Home Office Research Report 18 - Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) Phase 1: Overview of key trends from a monitoring programme

Key Findings
Summary
Main report


The Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) aimed to reduce the carrying of knives and serious stabbings among teenagers in ten police forces areas. 

Key findings relating to the TKAP period compared to the same period the previous year indicate an increase in the number of stop and searches for offensive weapons and a reduction in the number of young victims of knife crime on various measures including recorded knife–related ‘all violence’ and robbery offences and further reductions in NHS hospital admissions for assault with a sharp object.

Due to a number of methodological limitations and the fact that trends were heavily dominated by London, caution must be applied when interpreting these trends and attributing change directly to TKAP.