According to the police statistics, revealed in a Freedom of Information request, the number of serious assaults this year where knives were involved is equal to the whole 12-month period of both 2016 and 2017.
Offenders in possession of knives were also recorded in common assault reports. However, these numbered fewer than five and therefore were not revealed by the FOI to protect the identity of individuals.
The FOI request also asked whether people attending the Emergency Department with stab wounds were Jersey-born or from elsewhere.
But the response said the department does not record knife wounds specifically, but does report stabbings to the police.
The statistics show that all six of the grave and criminal assaults recorded in 2018 in which a knife was used were committed by Jersey-born offenders.
In the last ten years, knives have been used in 196 grave and criminal assaults. Of those, 102 were committed by someone Jersey-born.
The worst years for knife crime in the last decade were 2011 and 2013 when knives were used in 38 and 34 assaults respectively.
Earlier this year, the JEP revealed that in the first six months of this year, knives were used in nine crimes.
DCI Chris Beechey said at the time that there was no clear pattern to link the incidents where knives had been used.
‘Any crime involving any form of weapon will not be tolerated in Jersey, and the States of Jersey Police will continue to prioritise these serious incidents, and will continue to respond swiftly to any information or intelligence that concerns either the carrying of knives in public or the use of knives in any form of incident or crime,’ he said.
