Pendle News Room

A Knife Crime survey was carried out by Pendle’s Neighbourhood Policing Team at the borough’s high schools and Nelson and Colne College in September and October 2020.

Councillor David Whipp, Chairman of Pendle Community Safety Partnership, said: “I’m pleased that more than 1,500 students completed the survey, giving us a good snapshot of life in Pendle for young people.

”As well as looking at the specific issue of knife crime, the survey asked how safe young people feel during the day and at night and what they believe the current problems are.”

When asked how safe they feel in their local area during the day, 87% said they feel safe, 8% said they don’t feel safe and 5% said they don’t know.

And when responding to how safe they feel in their local area at night, 62% said they feel safe, 30% said they don’t feel safe and 8% said they don’t know.

• 28% highlighted drug use and drug dealing as the top problems followed by violence and bullying.
• 36% didn’t have any problems to report and 3% stated people carrying knives in their area was a problem.
• 96% of people have never considered carrying a knife. When asked why they believe people do carry knives 22% stated it was to feel safer, 49% said as self-defence and 29% said peer pressure.
• 46% stated they were worried about knives although only 16% stated they have seen an incident where a knife was involved. 3% state they have had an incident where they have been hurt or someone has pulled a knife on them.

Councillor Whipp added: “The survey highlights areas where community safety partners can concentrate activity to make Pendle an even safer place to live for young people.

“The police and other agencies will be working on further initiatives to address these issues in the coming months.

“It’s reassuring to see that a great majority of teenagers responding to the survey feel safe from knife crime.

“Even better than that, an overwhelming proportion would never consider carrying a knife!”

Note to editors

The schools which took part in the survey were Marsden Heights Community College, Nelson; Pendle Vale College, Colne; Colne Primet Academy; St John Fisher and Thomas More RC High School, Colne; Park High School, Colne; West Craven High School, Barnoldswick and Nelson and Colne College.

1, 530 young people responded to the Knife Crime survey. 43% were aged 11-13, 42% 14-16 years old and 15% over 17 years old.