'We're winning fight against gun and knife crime' - West Midlands Police Chief Constable speaks following latest violence on region's streets

Chief Constable Craig Guildford spoke after a series of violent incidents on the region's streets.

A man was murdered in Phoenix Park, Wolverhampton, today (Wednesday), just yards from a shooting in August that has led to a man admitting attempted murder.

Detectives also investigated a possible discharge of a gun in the city on Tuesday.  A man was shot and badly injured in a daytime attack near Wolverhampton's city centre Sainsbury's store on October 13. And two men were killed as they sat in a vehicle in Whitmore Reans on September 19. 

The Chief Constable said that there were still challenges around public perception of both gun and knife crime.

But he blamed a mixture of negative reporting in the media and the prevalence of social media for heightening the fear of people.

He said he felt there were plenty of positives as well to report, adding: "I do still think, with knife crime, there's a factor of the issue sounding worse than it is and, obviously, we put out stories which are hopefully intended to reassure the public about just how much work we're doing on it, how seriously we're taking it and, most importantly, how we bring some of these people to justice for the things they have done.

"Some of that is quite a challenge when it comes to the way that some of the reporting happens on social media, so I think we're always going to be up against that, but we've got to redouble our efforts to make sure we get the positive messages out to counter some of this narrative.

"In terms of firearms, the trajectory is really positive, as not only have we recovered more firearms that we have done previously, but the number of discharges have also reduced, with the lowest number of discharges in six years.

"Last year, we recovered 137 weapons and we had 123 surrendered and, so far this year, we've recovered 104 and had 152 surrendered so, overall, gun crime is down 15 per cent and while when there is a shooting, it is headline news, but we are working very hard around preventing and detecting gun crime."

Chief Constable Guildford was reflecting on new national crime statistics, which are set to be released on Thursday and show safety in the West Midlands has continued to improve, with crime reducing, arrests increasing and victims receiving better and faster police support.

The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) cover the period July 2024 to June 2025, and show significant reductions in crimes which cause the most harm to communities.

Key areas that have seen reductions include robbery, burglary, vehicle crime, theft from the person, and knife crime.

Total crime reported across the West Midlands has been reduced by six per cent (19,000 few offences) compared to the same period last year, a figure the Chief Constable said was the biggest volume difference of any force in England and Wales.

The Chief Constable said he was very pleased with the statistics and spoke of the work that had gone on in the background to ensure the force achieved the results it had for reducing crime, with knife crime a particular focus.

He said: "We've reduced crime by 19,000 fewer victims and the headlines are vehicle crime is down about 15 per cent, burglary by 22 per cent and robbery is down 18 per cent and in terms of our outcomes, they've now risen to 15 per cent on average.

"Calls for service are also looking really good, as we're answering the 999 calls within one to two seconds on a volume of 77,000 a month and we're getting to the calls on an emergency in just under 10 minutes, regardless of your postcode, so that's really pleasing.

"For shoplifting, the rate of increase has certainly slowed, up only 2.5 per cent on year to date, but the detection rate has jumped to 27 per cent, which I'm really pleased about as it used to be really low.

"We've made the largest number of arrests that we've had all over the summer and it's just continuing this year.

"Finally, with knife crime, I can say that knife enabled robbery is down by a quarter and knife crime and serious youth violence is also down quite significantly, by about 16 per cent, so I'm pleased with the direction of where we are going."

The Chief Constable said that he felt the reduction of the headline figures had been down to a combination of a continued focus from top down and bottom up within the force, as well the work and resources going into investigating the major crimes.

He also spoke about the level of work around knife crime and the measures being taken for prevention and enforcement.

He said: "There has been a lot of the hotspot patrolling we've been doing and targeted stop search with our Operation Guardian teams, and I think we've also made a big impact with the way that we tackle robbery, particularly knife-enabled robbery, and the level of investigative effort and the resources that go into that are quite considerable.

"And then there's the additional part where we still have cops that go to schools and PCSOs that go to schools and we work quite closely with the violence reduction partnership, so we keep pushing the prevention message with younger people, but, also, we are very keen on enforcement with people of any age.

"If you are caught with a knife in the West Midlands, you will be arrested, and we will take you through the process again."

While the figures have indicated a successful year for West Midlands Police, particularly after being taken out of special measures in July 2024, the Chief Constable said he still saw challenges ahead and wasn't prepared to just rest on his laurels.

He also said the force was always looking to improve and expand and also held it up as an organisation always happy to share best practice and learn together.

He said: "I have to be dead straight and regardless of the success of the figures, I still have concerns around knife crime in society, particularly with younger people, so despite the success of the figures, we continue to redouble all our efforts around that.

"One of the areas that has certainly had some national coverage over the last three or four months has been shoplifting and I'm pleased that those shoplifting increases have now started to really tail off, but one of the key things with shoplifting and keeping people safe that work behind shop counters is that you can get through to the police and we come quickly and catch the people responsible.

"We are continuing to move in the right direction and we've got a good policing model and, over the summer, we've started to take on a considerable number of new officers as part of the neighbourhood uplift, with 150 extra cops and 20 extra PCSOs, moving towards that dedicated neighbourhood officer who is named and identified.

"We're just trying to back that up and as soon as we have any additional cash to do that, we're doing so and so we're really optimistic for future as, yes, we are always making efficiency savings and will continue to do so, but the platform's a good one and a solid one and we're getting good people into the organisation.

"I also think it's always good to share best practice and it's nice to be able to be visited and we get loads of visits from other forces about the things we're doing, as well as the home office, but the main thing is we share the learning with the College of Policing and we take things from other police forces, because that's the way everybody gets better."