Knife and firearm offences
Knife-enabled crime
Selected serious offences involving a knife or sharp instrument: homicide, attempted murder, threats to kill, assault with injury or intent to cause serious harm, robbery, rape and sexual assault. This overlaps violence, robbery and sexual offences; it is not weapons possession or a separate addition to all crime. Counts come from a separate collection. National totals include British Transport Police. History contains published annual observations and the latest equivalent rolling years, not quarterly estimates. Recording improvements, including NDQIS from April 2019, limit older comparisons; Greater Manchester data before its 2018 review and Metropolitan Police data before its April 2024 revisions are not directly comparable with later figures.
This page contains a published snapshot. The interactive comparison shows the latest validated data and its actual dates. Monthly source checks do not create new monthly official observations.
Compare knife-enabled crime interactively
England and Wales reference
- Recorded offences
- 48,615
- Resident-population rate
- 78.4 per 100,000
The national reference includes British Transport Police. Territorial force and regional totals exclude it.
Police force areas
| Area | Recorded offences | Resident-population rate | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avon and Somerset | 1,646 | 90.3 per 100,000 | +12.1% |
| Bedfordshire | 588 | 77.9 per 100,000 | +4.1% |
| Cambridgeshire | 598 | 63.5 per 100,000 | -1.6% |
| Cheshire | 453 | 39.5 per 100,000 | -19.3% |
| City of London | 43 | Unavailable | -14.0% |
| Cleveland | 970 | 161.9 per 100,000 | +9.7% |
| Cumbria | 196 | 38.2 per 100,000 | +28.1% |
| Derbyshire | 755 | 68.5 per 100,000 | +8.9% |
| Devon and Cornwall | 864 | 46.9 per 100,000 | +1.5% |
| Dorset | 252 | 31.6 per 100,000 | +20.6% |
| Durham | 415 | 63.6 per 100,000 | +3.2% |
| Dyfed-Powys | 178 | 34.0 per 100,000 | +1.1% |
| Essex | 1,386 | 71.3 per 100,000 | -6.0% |
| Gloucestershire | 244 | 36.3 per 100,000 | -5.8% |
| Greater Manchester | 2,783 | 92.2 per 100,000 | -15.6% |
| Gwent | 375 | 62.3 per 100,000 | +3.6% |
| Hampshire | 995 | 48.2 per 100,000 | +6.5% |
| Hertfordshire | 572 | 46.2 per 100,000 | -22.0% |
| Humberside | 801 | 83.0 per 100,000 | +1.8% |
| Kent | 879 | 45.2 per 100,000 | +0.8% |
| Lancashire | 1,175 | 72.7 per 100,000 | -0.3% |
| Leicestershire | 682 | 57.9 per 100,000 | -9.8% |
| Lincolnshire | 447 | 56.3 per 100,000 | +9.0% |
| Merseyside | 1,157 | 78.2 per 100,000 | -1.4% |
| Metropolitan Police | 13,748 | 151.0 per 100,000 | -12.0% |
| Norfolk | 389 | 41.1 per 100,000 | -16.2% |
| North Wales | 290 | 41.7 per 100,000 | -5.5% |
| North Yorkshire | 355 | 41.9 per 100,000 | +23.3% |
| Northamptonshire | 625 | 75.9 per 100,000 | +15.7% |
| Northumbria | 1,162 | 76.9 per 100,000 | +10.7% |
| Nottinghamshire | 967 | 81.4 per 100,000 | +18.4% |
| South Wales | 612 | 45.2 per 100,000 | -5.8% |
| South Yorkshire | 1,379 | 96.1 per 100,000 | -5.2% |
| Staffordshire | 795 | 67.1 per 100,000 | +1.3% |
| Suffolk | 369 | 46.7 per 100,000 | +25.5% |
| Surrey | 452 | 36.0 per 100,000 | -5.2% |
| Sussex | 887 | 50.2 per 100,000 | -12.1% |
| Thames Valley | 968 | 36.4 per 100,000 | +3.9% |
| Warwickshire | 304 | 47.2 per 100,000 | 0.0% |
| West Mercia | 640 | 47.4 per 100,000 | +3.9% |
| West Midlands | 3,640 | 120.2 per 100,000 | -14.4% |
| West Yorkshire | 1,956 | 80.7 per 100,000 | -12.4% |
| Wiltshire | 313 | 40.6 per 100,000 | +39.7% |
Regions and Wales
| Area | Recorded offences | Resident-population rate | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 3,476 | 68.3 per 100,000 | +8.1% |
| East of England | 3,902 | 59.0 per 100,000 | -5.7% |
| London | 13,791 | 151.2 per 100,000 | -12.0% |
| North East | 2,547 | 92.2 per 100,000 | +9.0% |
| North West | 5,764 | 74.2 per 100,000 | -9.4% |
| South East | 4,181 | 43.1 per 100,000 | -1.0% |
| South West | 3,319 | 56.2 per 100,000 | +10.2% |
| Wales | 1,455 | 45.8 per 100,000 | -2.7% |
| West Midlands | 5,379 | 86.7 per 100,000 | -9.7% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 4,491 | 79.2 per 100,000 | -5.7% |
Areas are alphabetical. Counts cover the stated rolling year. Rates are unavailable where resident-population comparison is unsuitable; published percentage-change suppressions are retained. Categories overlap and must not be summed.
Weapon-collection history
These are separate collections which overlap other offence groups. Published annual observations and the latest equivalent rolling years retain their actual dates; no intervening quarters are invented. Open an area comparison for its dated history and recording caveats.
Notes and official sources
- The England and Wales reference includes British Transport Police except for firearm offences. Regional and territorial-force comparisons exclude it. London regional totals include City of London.
- Main offence groups and their detailed components overlap. Knife-enabled and firearm offences also overlap other categories. Never add parent groups, their components and weapon-enabled measures together.
- Published ONS percentage-change suppressions are preserved, including small-base suppressions. Some observations have counts but no published comparable change.
- Standard offence histories contain quarterly rolling-year totals. Knife-enabled and firearm histories retain the actual published annual dates and latest equivalent rolling years; intervening quarterly observations are not estimated. Historical weapon rates are unavailable before a matching ONS population estimate exists.
- An April 2025 clarification of police counting rules increased the recording of business robbery during shop theft involving violence or threats. Changes in robbery and shoplifting across this date can reflect the recording change as well as changes in crime.
- ONS police force area crime tables — published 22 October 2026
- Home Office revised quarterly recorded crime open data — published 22 October 2026
- ONS police force area mid-year population estimates — published 12 August 2026