Weapons in Schools (FOI Ref: 807/26)
Request
For the last 5 full calendar years (2021/22/23/24/25) and for as much of 2026 as possible please can you supply:
- The counts of crimes or suspects found in school with a weapon or dangerous implement, broken down by year.
- The number and type of weapons or dangerous implements seized from schools, broken down by year.
- The number and age of suspects charged with offences relating to possession of a weapon or dangerous implement in schools, broken down by year.
We clarified with you on 1/4/2026 and you replied on 7/4/2026, you amended questions read:
For the calendar years 2022; 2023; 2024; 2025 and 2026 to date.
Please provide:
For the following recorded crimes:
|
008/63 - Threaten a person with an offensive weapon on school premises |
|
008/62 - Threaten a person with a blade / sharply pointed article on further education premises |
|
008/28 - Possess offensive weapon on school / further education premises |
|
008/27 - Possess article with blade / sharply pointed article on school / further education premises |
Q1. The number of recorded crimes at educational premises where a knife crime has been committed.
Q2. Of those in question1 please provide the outcomes of the crimes
Q3. Of those in question 1 please group the results into ages of offenders – grouped as aged 10 years and under; aged 11 years to 16 years, aged 17 years to 18 years.
Response
Please find enclosed our response.
Q1. The number of recorded crimes at educational premises where a knife crime has been committed.
|
Short Offence Title |
Year |
||||
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 |
|
|
Having an article with a blade or point on school premises |
128 |
134 |
112 |
125 |
33 |
|
Possession of other offensive weapon on school premises / further education premises. |
11 |
22 |
21 |
24 |
3 |
|
Threaten with a blade or sharply pointed article on school premises |
43 |
47 |
32 |
40 |
16 |
|
Threaten with an offensive weapon on school premises / further education premises. |
5 |
17 |
9 |
8 |
5 |
|
Grand Total |
187 |
220 |
174 |
197 |
57 |
Data to 20/4/2026.
Q2. Of those in question1 please provide the outcomes of the crimes
|
Outcome Description |
Year |
||||
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 |
|
|
Pending outcome |
0 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
29 |
|
Caution - Youth (Inc Conditional Caution) |
5 |
12 |
28 |
39 |
3 |
|
Caution – Adult (Inc Conditional Caution) |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Charge or Summons |
5 |
6 |
12 |
20 |
4 |
|
Community Resolution |
6 |
6 |
28 |
35 |
3 |
|
Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action |
53 |
68 |
22 |
0 |
0 |
|
Evidential Difficulties - Victim Based - Named suspect not identified |
3 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
|
Formal action against the offender is not in the public interest (Police) |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Further action will be taken by another body |
9 |
11 |
4 |
12 |
4 |
|
Investigation Complete: No suspect identified |
22 |
8 |
5 |
8 |
1 |
|
Named Suspect identified: evidential difficulties prevent further action(no victim support) |
38 |
35 |
41 |
20 |
5 |
|
Named Suspect identified: evidential difficulties prevent further action(victim support) |
42 |
59 |
30 |
39 |
6 |
|
Prosecution prevented – Named suspect identified but is below the age of criminal responsibility |
4 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
|
Prosecution prevented – Named suspect identified but is too ill (physical or mental health) to prosecute |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Grand Total |
187 |
220 |
174 |
197 |
57 |
Data to 20/4/2026
Q3. Of those in question 1 please group the results into ages of offenders – grouped as aged 10 years and under; aged 11 years to 16 years, aged 17 years to 18 years.
|
Suspect Age Group |
Year |
||||
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 |
|
|
10 Years and under |
16 |
18 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
|
11 - 16 Years |
138 |
167 |
132 |
151 |
40 |
|
17 -18 Years |
12 |
9 |
5 |
10 |
2 |
Data to 20/4/2026
Please note that this data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently, statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are considered when interpreting the data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be considered when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data, we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
An abundance of funding and dedicated resources continue to be ploughed into reducing knife crime which remains a top priority for WMP. For many years WMP has seen some of the highest knife crime offences per 1,000 population. That has now changed, we no longer occupy that unenviable position as we continue to see sustained reductions. That’s down to some very intense work with our local partners and the support of the public.
The latest statistics serve to evidence the improvements people are seeing in their community. While recognising that any offence is one too many, people in the West Midlands are statistically now less likely to be a victim of crime.
It's essential that we all come together — police, schools, teachers, and parents — to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our young people.