About

#NotTheOne is an early intervention campaign that aims to persuade 11 to 16 year olds away from carrying knives.

The campaign is led by South Wales Police and the Wales Violence Prevention Unit with funding from the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner. It is informed by the advice and experiences of children, young people, and education professionals and youth workers in South Wales.

Through honest conversation and examples of real-life experiences, we work to educate young people on the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife.

Are you a parent, carer, teacher or youth group leader looking for advice and support? #NotTheOne education resources for teachers, parents and youth workers can help provoke discussion and reflection in and outside of the classroom.

Police forces across the UK can use #NotTheOne campaign resources to support their engagement with the public and help end knife crime in their areas.

Contact

communications@south-wales.police.uk

How many young people carry a knife?

000/100

According to the last census, the South Wales region is home to 358,208 people aged 10-29.

In the years since the census, 1,804 individuals in that age group have been found in possession of a bladed article. This works out at 0.5% of the population.

It’s impossible for police to know about every person carrying a knife. However, when combined with other data sources, we can estimate that around 1% of young people carry a knife in the South Wales region.

This means the overwhelming majority of young people do not carry a knife, and knife crime in South Wales remains relatively rare. Any knife crime incident is one too many.

Sources

Home Office supported by British Crime Survey:

One in 100 children said they had carried a knife for their own protection in the last year.

Violence Prevention Unit and South Wales Police:

From 1 January 2009-present: 1804 ‘possession of bladed article crimes’ committed by unique offenders between 10-29. The population in that age bracket for South Wales Police is 358,208. That gives 0.5% of the young population of South Wales have carried a knife in the past decade or so.

From the last financial year: From those searched aged 10-29, 85 out of 7,007 searched were found carrying a knife (1.2%). Those stop searched are based on officers needing reasonable grounds to suspect they would find the item.