JERSEY “cannot be complacent” when it comes to tackling knife crime, according to the police chief, who has welcomed plans for new laws to help keep the public safe.
Robin Smith said that, while the number of knife crime incidents in the Island was “very small”, it was good to have “a deterrent” in the form of preventative legislation.
He made the comments after Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles lodged a proposition which seeks to abolish and replace some customary law and statutory offences and create new ones to help the police tackle a range of issues relating to public safety.
One of the proposed changes involves expanding the definition of an offensive weapon – currently something “made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person” – to include something that has “a blade or is sharply pointed”.
If approved, the new law would also make the possession of an offensive weapon in a public place an offence.
Currently, someone carrying an offensive weapon only commits an offence if they fail to prove that they have “lawful authority or reasonable excuse” to do so.
Mr Smith noted that there had been 42 recorded knife crime incidents in 2020, 30 in 2021 and 41 in 2022.
He described last year’s figures as “very small”, particularly as only nine involved “any form of stabbing or slashing”.
However, he stressed that he received “no comfort” from the number of incidents being small, adding that “of course, we want none”.
He continued: “We absolutely cannot be complacent for any issues involving knife crime. The vast majority [of incidents] involve adults and they could include people in mental-health crisis who are looking to harm themselves. That does not happen often, but it’s not infrequent. It could be somebody who’s seen in the street with a penknife, it could involve a number of different things.”
Deputy Miles’s proposition stated that knife crime is “sadly becoming more prevalent in Jersey”.
Mr Smith reiterated that the numbers were “tiny” but added: “The best forms of legislation are those that deliver prevention. And if this legislation, which I warmly welcome, acts as a deterrent and prevents people being hurt, that has to be a good thing. The biggest threat we’ve got in the Island is any form of complacency.”
