Teesside anti-knife crime campaigner backs national centre
The National Knife Crime Centre opens in London today, uniting police, government and local groups
A Stockton woman, who lost her partner to a fatal stabbing, is backing a new national centre.
The National Knife Crime Coordination Centre opens in London today, uniting police, government and local groups.
It will coordinate police intelligence, target sellers, and work with tech companies to help halve knife crime in 10 years.
Eden Hollis lost her partner Lloyd Donkin in 2024 after he was stabbed to death.
She has since set up The Lloyd Donkin Memorial Fund to tackle knife crime locally across Stockton and Teesside.
Eden said: "I think it's very important to have somewhere and somebody that's concentrating on that in the area, especially with what's going on at the minute. But I just think there needs to be a lot more effort to put into targeting that and the violent crimes that are happening at the moment.
"I just think it needs to be really hands-on and really targeted, and they need to be concentrating on that as a priority. They need to be focussing everything that they've got into knife crimes and all the violent crimes that are happening because it's out of control.
"Stockton is a massive hotspot, Teesside's a massive hotspot for violent crimes and I just think the figures reflect that. So we definitely need something local, even if it's like a hub projecting from that idea, I just think it's really needed in Teesside at the moment.
"It's disgraceful to be honest with you. It's every other day you're hearing of knife crimes, violent crimes, and I just think that if they don't concentrate on stopping that now, I'd dread to think what it's going to be like for our children in the future.
"It's really, really hard to get people to see the importance of what's going on. And I feel like when an incident sort of happens, people do see that importance, but then it sort of wears off. And I feel like that happens in the community and with the police as well.
"It's just another day around here and another violent crime and I just think that attitude is concerning and I feel like that reflects again on with the police as well it sort of becomes an importance for certain periods of time when an incident's happened and then the importance just sort of wears off and I think that it's scary."
The National Knife Crime Coordination Centre
In late 2024, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC)’s knife crime working group was tasked with leading the largest ever review into how knives are sold online to identify any gaps in legislation which would prevent them being sold illegally to under-18s.
A number of recommendations were made in this review with some immediately being taken forward by the Government in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill and others for consultation.
The need for a coordination centre was one of the recommendations in order to bring together law enforcement, wider partners and industry to manage new legislation, coordinate policing activity and tackle illegal grey market knife sellers and importation.
Commander Stephen Clayman said:
“The objective of the centre is clear and ambitious, bringing together policing, other agencies and industry to deliver evidence-based solutions which will reduce knife crime and keep our communities safer. We are already seeing some positive results.
“We have always said that tackling knife crime needs a collaborative approach and through the centre we will have the capability and expertise to bring genuine change. One example is our work with tech companies around knife sellers using their platforms; by developing those relationships we can work together to not only remove harmful content but ensure it doesn’t end up on those sites in the first place.
“The knife crime working group has gone from strength to strength over the last few years and I am excited that we now have this opportunity to build on that success, working with Government and our partners to help achieve the ambition of halving knife crime within 10 years.”