Zuffar Haq calls on local hospitals to help tackle knife crime
April 27, 2009 7:35 PM
Harborough Liberal Democrats Zuffar Haq and Phil Knowles have called on all local hospitals to play their part in tackling knife crime. Forty-three young people died from knife crime in Britain last year.
Local Lib Dem campaigners believe there is a strong case for hospital accident and emergency units and the police to work together to identify knife crime black spots. And they point to the experience in Cardiff where information is routinely passed on to the police about locations where injuries caused by knife crime take place to back up their call for hospitals and police to work together.
As a result, police in Cardiff have been able to target the areas with the worst knife crime rates and have cut incidents by 40 per cent.
"There is clear evidence that when hospitals help the police build up a picture of where knife crime is taking place, areas with high numbers of incidents can be tackled," said Zuffar Haq, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson for Harborough.
"The Cardiff model allows for the information to be handed on by hospitals anonymously. The result is therefore a fall in knife crime by nearly half. Unfortunately, four out of five hospitals in England are not passing on this vital information to the police.
"We strongly urge a change in policy by local Hospital Trusts so that the risk of knife crime can be cut.
Information about hospital trusts and their approach to knife crime was revealed in Freedom of Information requests and research carried out by the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.
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