Knife Crime - A Trend of Enforcement in the UK

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1 London Trading Standards: Partnership and Coordination Reduction to Knife Sales to Minors Saves Lives Young people carrying knives becomes a key national public concern In 2008, the London Trading Standards Authorities (LoTSA) 1 conducted a coordinated and increased approach to enforcement work on the sale of knives to minors. This work was prompted by community concerns over alleged increases in the level of teenage gang associated knife crime and by requests from the Metropolitan Police and the Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP), Home Office, that the issue should be addressed. This stepped-up activity was part of a coordinated campaign under the umbrella of Operation Blunt 2, a campaign designed to reduce knife crime and possession in London. LoTSA had been compiling statistics on the level of underage test purchasing activity for some years. There has always been some level of knife misuse amongst young people. However, since the turn of the 21 st century, gangs and knife culture have become an increasing concern to the police and local authorities. This is a particular problem in the metropolitan city areas of the country (but not uniquely restricted to those areas), where knives have become the weapon of choice for teenage gangs, leading to a substantial increase in the level of stabbings reported at accident and emergency. It also led to a growing trend in teenage fatalities which appeared to have peaked in the year 2008/9. The issue of young people carrying knives became one of national public concern, with several high profile stories regarding deaths as a result of knife crime taking precedent in and Action was needed to deter young people from carrying knives and to demonstrate that carrying of knives would not be tolerated. The Blunt operations were specifically aimed at tackling this problem on a number of levels by: increased use of spot checks using police arches i.e. mobile walk-through metal detectors; stepped up stop and search activity; increased sweeps for stashes of weapons; and educational initiatives within communities for young people and other residents. 1 2 The London Trading Standards Authorities (LoTSA) is a partnership of 33 London boroughs There are 32 Trading Standards Services in London as Brent and Harrow operate a joint service Knife Crime a review of evidence and policy 1

2 Government figures on muggings in which knives were used showed that this form of attack increased from 25,500 in April 2005 to 64,000 in April The legal background Legislation dealing with knife sales was brought in under section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 but unlike some legislation the enforcement of this was not specifically placed in the hands of Trading Standards authorities. However, as Trading Standards has always been the leading body to deal with businesses on a commercial basis and in particular with age restricted sales, it naturally fell to most Trading Standards authorities to undertake this work. The original legislation created an offence for the sale of knives to under 16 year olds. This was amended in October 2007 under the S43 Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 (Order 2007) by raising the age to 18 years. The amendment included the sale of any knife, knife blade or razor blade, any axe, any article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed, and which is made or adapted for causing injury to the person. The trading standards element of funding for the Blunt 2 work was specifically based on test purchasing activity. However, the LoTSA Chiefs Trading Standards Officers agreed that businesses would be advised of legal changes prior to the test purchasing activity. It was further agreed that information would be compiled by LoTSA across London on what test purchasing activity took place, what the results were, and the follow-up action taken. LoTSA participation in Blunt 2 Project Following discussions with the Metropolitan Police s Blunt 2 Project 4 and the Government Office for London, LoTSA received funding to tackle the underage selling of knives in London Boroughs. Each London Borough was given funds to carry out test purchases on knife sales in shops. The remainder of the funding included publicity, administration and intelligence analysis. The test purchasing element of the Operation ran between 20th October 2008 and 9th November As a result of receiving the funding, LoTSA, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and Government Office for London, participated in a three phase project to combat the sales of knives to minors in the 33 London boroughs: Phase one was to gather intelligence to focus operational activity in the area of underage sale of knives and premises that exhibited the greatest risk of ongoing illegal supplies of knives. Phase two involved testing how successfully the programme of advice, guidance, change in law and the regulations regarding the sale of knives were understood by business, and operational deployment of test purchase tactics to deter and detect retail sale of knives to minors which was carried out over a three week period across London Phase three involved activity to research and test the safeguards used by internet suppliers to prevent the sale or supply of knives to minors. 3 4 Statistics on knife crime have been the subject of some controversy over recent years as there is an issue with the way crimes have been recorded in the past which did not necessarily reflect those areas that appeared to be of concern to communities in some UK cities. Metropolitan Police launched Operation Blunt Two, a campaign designed to reduce knife crime and possession in London. Its main feature was the extensive use of stop-and-search teams in the capital s boroughs, intending to discourage youngsters to carry knives and alert them to the potential dangers of doing so. 2

3 Phase 1 Intelligence reveals failure rate of 35% on test purchases of knives sales to underage children Intelligence was gathered and analysed during phase one. This included the number of test purchases and test purchase sales compared with two years previously. 20 out of the 32 Boroughs provided data for this analysis with a total of 620 test purchases being made of which 218 sales took place. This represented a failure rate of 35%. From all sales made, 25% resulted in prosecution with only 1% requiring no action taken at all. Chart 1 Enforcement Action taken by London Authorities 30% 25% Test purchase failures 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Prosecution Caution Advice Warning letter Name and shame No action Type of enforcement action The intelligence gathered during this phase provided a baseline. A 35% failure rate was considered extremely high, and although 25% were prosecuted, the ultimate outcome was to provide advice and guidance to business to help them rectify systematic errors. Only persistent offenders were prosecuted at this stage. Phase 2 Was advice to business successful? This was primarily tested through 1000 planned test purchases across London 5, during a three week period. Traditionally the police have not kept records of where young people obtain knives used in violent crime as it was not a part of the elements required to prove offences. However, they had become increasingly aware that as they increased the use of stop and search, knife arches and sweeps for stashes of weapons, there was a noticeable change in what was happening in knife attacks. As it became more difficult to carry a knife in person, incidents were occurring where knives were being purchased on the spot to be used in gang disputes. These matters were reported at the Retail Knives Group and were the reason for the request for a step change in the level of enforcement activity. 5 All authorities took part except the London Borough of Westminster 3

4 The Retail Knives Group proved to be a useful forum for passing on information from police directly involved in knife crime but not traditionally collated. By using intelligence provided by the police, Trading Standards officers were able to focus on the type of knives used in recent stabbings. The police were claiming that the majority of knives used in such incidents were kitchen knives of various lengths, serrated or with a pointed tip and Stanley style knives. In addition, they provided information on the type of store likely to sell knives to young persons. To ensure burdens on business were kept to a minimum, it was agreed that there would be no duplication of visits to the same store location during the action. Boroughs were asked to target the types of store that had failed test purchases in the past. The test purchases were made at shops and stores across London, using teenage volunteers, including police cadets 6. Knife sales reduced to 20% as a result of the Blunt 2 project 829 test purchases were made in total between 20 October and 10 November. Of these, 20% (163) resulted in sales. This was considerably less than had been done in the previous two years and highlighted a step change in enforcement activity. In comparing the results from the previous two years where the failure rate had been 35% 7, the results suggested that changes in the law on knife sales were increasingly being heeded by retailers with a 15% reduction in the number of failed test purchases in Chart 2: comparison in level of test purchasing during and % reduction in purchase failures Percentage of test purchase failures 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Sales Non sales 53 (39%) of the 163 sales have so far resulted in prosecution. A further 12% are awaiting prosecution. The majority of knives sold were kitchen and Stanley style knives. It should be noted that machetes and meat cleavers were also sold in one instance, a machete being sold to a 14- year-old. 6 7 Police Cadets (VPC) voluntary scheme were citizens support the police force on team-based programmes and activities that promote safer, healthier neighbourhoods across London. Weighting the number of test purchases and the results by 1.33 to compare with number of test purchases made in

5 Chart 3: Types of knives sold during test purchases. 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 3% 9% 12% 29% 37% Kitchen Knives Others/non known Stanley Craft Utility Tool Smart Snap off Serrated plater board Retractable Pruning/garden Pocket Meat Cleaver Machete Jab saw Contractors Blades Speaking at the press conference at New Scotland Yard, Minister for London Tony McNulty said: The tragic stabbings of young people are among the most terrible things we see in London. I fully support these operations and am confident they will ultimately lead to fewer knives being carried by teenagers on the capital s streets. The stores that sold these knives, many of them well-known chains, must also be made aware that they need to play their part in ridding the streets of weapons and know that we will take strong enforcement action against them where appropriate. The most common reaction from sellers when told they had just sold to an underage child was concerned and apologetic, but some reactions were unhelpful, for example, denying that the sale had taken place, exhibiting unconcern; or saying they were not aware the sale was illegal. MPS Commander Mark Simmons said: We are pleased that retailers are becoming aware of the changes to legislation regarding the sale of knives and operations such as these will act as a reminder to those individuals who continue to flout the law that they will be caught and prosecuted. Our Volunteer Cadet Corps play a crucial role in bringing these individuals to account, and by working with Trading Standards we will continue to prevent dangerous weapons being sold to young people. Phase 3 The online operation It was agreed that the LoTSA authorities Lambeth and Southwark would work together to: trawl internet sites that sell knives over a three month period; carry out test purchases by attempting to buy knives using a debit card that either has been, or could have been, acquired by an under-18 year old and, as far as the retailer knows, the buyer could be under-18; and work with under-18 year olds and supervise them as they try and buy knives themselves from the internet. 5

6 Similar operations have been conducted previously (notably by Brent and Greenwich) but this was the largest and most thorough operation of its kind to date. The aim was to make sellers aware of the possible pitfalls and to set up best practice for ensuring that such sales cannot be made. Trading Standards made test purchases from 44 selected online traders. The sales involved young volunteers aged 14 and 15 being overseen by a trading standards officer. The young people used Prepaid Mastercards from a well known major finance company which were obtained using their true age and details. During the process of purchase the young people did not supply any false information other than ticking the over 18 box where shown, or if this was required during the order process, by stating an age which indicated they were over 18. Of the 44 online traders tested, 93% (41) resulted in sales The results of the online test purchases contrast sharply with the cross London test purchasing campaign carried out in November 2008 where the ratio for sales to test was 20% compared with 93% in the on-line project. The types of knives sold during the online operation included: kitchen, hunting, craft and combat types. In one instance a 14 year old was able to purchase an 18 machete and a throwing knife. While the majority of traders had age warnings on their site, only 3 out of 44 carried out positive age checks to prevent the sale from taking place. All traders who sold knives to the young test purchasers in this project have been sent letters informing them of the test, with a copy to their local Trading Standards office or Home Authority. Recommendations for future action From the on-line phase the following recommendations were put forward by LoTSA; 1 Address the issue of Prepaid Cards to young teenagers A review of the range of pre-payment cards now available to underage consumers should be carried out. Government negotiations with the finance companies whose products facilitate internet purchases should be considered. Such a process could examine the feasibility of the credit card companies developing age verification mechanisms in their cards supplied to under-18s. They have the potential to act as a powerful age check tool. A project to check the claims made by age verification organisations such as Know Your Customer (KYC) or Verify Your Customer (VYC) should be funded. 2 Ensure businesses using distance selling are aware of the law and of the payment cards available to young consumers A programme of business advice to alert on-line traders to the legal use of MasterCard prepayment cards by under-18s should be carried out by local authority Trading Standards Services with dedicated funding from central government. 3 Enforce existing law The traders who sold in this project should be subjected to further test purchases following receipt of appropriate business advice. 6

7 4 New legislation Changes in legislation should be considered to ensure that the whole range of public protection that has been put in place to prevent young people having access to alcohol, tobacco, fireworks, solvents and many other items is at least as effective online and by mail order as it is in face to face transactions. The business case for such changes includes creating a level playing field for retailers on the High Street. 5 Capture and disseminate best practice Development of Toolkits for Trading Standards and on-line and mail order businesses should be funded as a matter of priority including best practice enforcement guidance, from equipment and test purchasing methods through to trader advice, including suitable age verification options. 6 Equip Local Authority Trading Standards services to enforce on-line A survey should be carried out to map which Trading Standards services currently have the basic facilities needed to police the internet, and an appropriate funding programme put in place if necessary. Facilities that can prove problematical to set up include: a stand alone computer not linked to corporate IT an address not linked to the local authority where parcels can be received in addition it would help some Trading Standards services if local authority procedures to permit officers to set up payment cards for test purchases could be streamlined. 7 Fund comprehensive project to check under age sales Distance Selling Given the global nature of the internet and the unique and specialised test purchasing methods required, consideration should be given to funding further projects to be carried out by Trading Standards services to test the effect of underage sales legislation in distance selling situations. Home Office recognition of combating knife crime work as national best practice The retail operation was recognised as national best practice and the London partnership model will be replicated across the other Home Office Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) areas 8. LoTSA Chairman Peter Davenport said: Trading Standards Services will actively assist businesses that are determined to bring their staff and procedures into compliance with the law, and many already have information campaigns in place to support legitimate business in this way. The public needs to understand that there are many legal and procedural steps that TSS are obliged to comply with before a prosecution for these types of offences can be started, but Trading Standards will act resolutely against those who make illegal sales of knives, with all the related risks of violent crime and disorder that can result

8 LoTSA maintained throughout this campaign that they supported genuine businesses making efforts to ensure that knives don t get into the wrong hands. Although prosecutions are still ongoing in some boroughs, the sharing of information on sales from multiple outlets was helpful in determining to what extent these stores had implemented effective due diligence systems. Lessons learnt Through a coordinated approach to test purchasing and business advice, Trading Standards services in London have been able to demonstrate that they can make a real difference and produce positive outcomes for their communities. They have shown that by working in partnership they have been able to reduce the sale of knives to minors from 35% to 20%. This is a significant improvement especially when considering what the knives are being used for as discussed earlier. Key partner agencies are requesting this work and analysis, not undertaken by any other agency, which highlights LoTSA as a key enforcement partner. Partnership working is also critical when looking at the on-line sale of knives and the work required to reduce the current failure rate of 93%. This area of work cannot be ignored if government wishes to achieve its objectives of building safer and stronger communities. The benefits of regional working are clear when small underfunded trading standards authorities constantly have to re-invent systems and work that has been done elsewhere. If regional coordination had not been in place it is likely that this exercise would have required considerable extra resources from each Authority to coordinate it. There is great potential for economies of scale to be gained by running London wide business support campaigns in the future. Working with this regional infrastructure provides an effective mechanism for tackling knife crime as well as working in partnership. There is still work to be done in this area and this format could provide greater outcomes in reducing crime especially violent crime associated with knives and contribute to making communities safer. 8