Child aged 10 found with knife amid concerns of ‘youth violence epidemic'
A child aged just 10 was among 91 people aged 18 and under found by Police Scotland to be in possession of a bladed weapon in 2024.
The shocking statistics prompted concerns of a 'youth violence epidemic'.
It comes following the deaths of teenagers Amen Teklay and Kayden Moy. Both died after allegedly being stabbed in separate incidents this year.
Now analysis of Police Scotland stop and search data by the justice and home affairs magazine 1919 showed that in 2024, teenagers accounted for almost a third of positive knife searches across all age groups.
The 91 cases where someone under the age of 18 was caught with a bladed or pointed weapon equate to about one such case every four days.
The data revealed a 10-year-old was caught with a knife in the east of Edinburgh in July 2024.
Meanwhile, 12-year-olds were caught with bladed weapons in the capital, Glasgow, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, the magazine reported.
In addition, more than a dozen children aged 13 – including two girls – were also found to have such items when searched.
David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said: 'Each one of the truly shocking statistics is a justifiable and evidenced-based reaction by the police to an increasingly concerning societal trend we now see emerging among younger members of our communities in Scotland.'
He added: 'Each of these statistics is a real situation which created significant risk for my colleagues, as well as potentially life-changing consequences for the perpetrator, and sadly – as we have seen so tragically across Scotland recently – the victims of knife crime, their families and friends.'
Mr Threadgold said that the 'solution to this problem cannot rest alone with the police', arguing for 'much greater and more effective preventative strategies' to be put in place across Scotland.
Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: 'These shocking figures are yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland.'
She added: 'Each one of these 91 cases is very serious for our communities and potentially for those actually carrying the weapon.
'The only way to tackle this effectively is to have early intervention schemes that get to the root cause, and without this we will fail our communities.'
Calling for 'urgent action', she insisted the Scottish Government had 'created a perfect storm by cutting youth work services, letting police officer numbers fall, and mismanaging CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and education'.
First Minister John Swinney has already warned youngsters against carrying knives, insisting this is 'dangerous' and 'damaging'.
But Scottish Tory community safety spokesperson Sharon Dowey insisted it was 'high time nationalist ministers woke up to the gravity of this situation'.
The Conservative MSP said: 'These alarming figures lay bare just how drastically knife crime has spiralled out of control.'
She said there needs to be 'meaningful punishments for those who use a knife' along with 'expanded stop-and-search powers for police to act as a deterrent'.
However, she claimed: 'The SNP's soft-touch attitude towards justice represents an abject dereliction of duty by John Swinney's government.'
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Stop and search powers should be used where lawful, necessary and proportionate. Their use in individual cases is an operational matter for Police Scotland.
'Police do use stop and search, and it is one tool to tackle violence alongside a range of other measures such as prevention and education.'
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland of Police Scotland meanwhile said: 'Victims of crime and people right across the country expect us to use all powers at our disposal to keep them safe.
'Stop and search is just one of those powers and one in every three searches leads to the recovery of illicit or harmful items, safeguarding our communities.'
Mr Sutherland stressed that 'intelligence-led stop and search is a valuable and effective policing tactic in detecting and preventing crime when it is used lawfully, proportionately and in line with the code of practice, which was introduced in 2017'.
This code has a 'dedicated section for children', he added, which provides officers with guidance to be used when when making a decision to stop and search a child.
He said: 'We recognise that stopping and searching people is a significant intrusion into their personal liberty and privacy and we remain committed to ensuring that people are treated with fairness, integrity and respect.
'It is also a tactic that enables the service to keep people safe and assist in ensuring the wellbeing of our wider communities.'
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