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Areas of Cleveland affected by high levels of violent crime are set to receive a surge in high-visibility police patrols as part of a new drive to reduce knife crime.
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland has secured £481,505 through the Government’s Knife Crime Concentration Fund, which will support intensified patrols in identified hotspot areas across Stockton and Middlesbrough.
The initiative follows a Home Office announcement that 27 police forces, including Cleveland Police, will use advanced mapping technology capable of pinpointing knife crime hotspots down to areas of one square kilometre.
Using the ‘micro-geography’ approach, police can identify the streets and times where knife crime is most likely to occur, allowing officers and partner agencies to focus resources more precisely. Locally, the additional patrols will focus on five ward areas which account for 11% of knife crime incidents across Cleveland. The patrols will build on existing activity already taking place under the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matt Storey, said the approach had already shown positive results through previous hotspot policing work.
“We have already seen the value of focused hotspot patrols in Cleveland through the work of Project Salus. They provide a visible deterrent, build public confidence and help disrupt criminal activity in the places most affected.”
Matt Storey
Storey added that the latest funding would support both enforcement and prevention work. “I am pleased that high-visibility policing will be present in key locations while investment into early intervention work also continues,” he said.
Alongside the patrols, a structured problem-solving programme involving local partners is being developed to better understand the causes of knife crime in the targeted areas. This is expected to lead to coordinated partnership action aimed at reducing serious violence and protecting vulnerable people.
The Cleveland Unit for the Reduction of Violence (CURV) will also concentrate some of its activity in the same locations, including focused deterrence initiatives targeting people considered most at risk of becoming involved in violence.
The crackdown forms part of a wider national ambition to halve knife crime over the next decade. In Cleveland, the programme aims to reduce knife crime in hotspot areas by 33% within three years.
Storey said tackling violence required more than policing alone. “We must continue to work with local partners to address the root causes that lead people to violent crime and help provide opportunities and support to those affected by it,” he said. “I look forward to continuing our work with Cleveland Police to deliver real, lasting change around the prevalent challenge knife crime and serious violence brings to our communities.”
Superintendent Paul Allen said the force would work closely with partners to target the areas identified through the new data-led approach.
“Cleveland Police welcomes the Knife Crime Concentration Fund and will work with partner agencies in those areas identified as needing focused intervention and enforcement, to continue to tackle the very real threat of this type of crime.”
Superintendent Paul Allen
Allen added that community intelligence remained essential to preventing offences and identifying those carrying weapons. “Gathering information about those carrying and storing knives and bladed weapons continues to be key in ensuring we have officers and specialist teams in the places where and when they are needed,” he said.
The intensified patrols and prevention activity are expected to begin across the identified hotspot areas as Cleveland Police and partner organisations continue wider efforts to reduce serious violence and improve community safety.
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