PCC’s Views On Proposed Knife Crime Prevention Orders

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert, has commented on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National Police Chiefs Council’s (NPCC) latest consultation on charging young people with weapons offences.

Speaking on the changes proposed by the CPS and NPCC, Mr Cuthbert said: “We should be treating children as children first and offenders second.

“Having reviewed the suggested changes to the guidance, I feel that there needs to be a child-centred approach when a child is found to be carrying a weapon.

“It is vital that we undertake an individual, balanced, fair and proportionate view to achieving good outcomes for children, giving them every opportunity to discourage future offending.

“What’s more, we should be ensuring that appropriate, early intervention is used to reduce the number of children offending in the first place.

“Police services and youth offending services already have joint protocols in place that set out locally agreed practice for Out Of Court Disposals.

“These processes work and have been hugely successful in driving down the number of children entering the criminal justice system for the first time.

“My belief is that every case of a child in possession of an offensive weapon or bladed article should be judged on a case by case basis.”