Fed chair urges change after city witnesses another teen stabbing

24 January 2023

“It has got to be our mission to save young lives,” says the chair of West Midlands Police Federation, as he urges the Force to ‘start trusting officers’ following another knife crime incident involving a teenager in Birmingham.

Rich Cooke has reiterated his growing concerns surrounding the number of youngsters carrying and using dangerous weapons across the West Midlands.

His comments come after a 13-year-old was rushed to hospital after being attacked and stabbed outside Birmingham New Street Station earlier this month.

“We are living in a frightening world,” said Rich, “Fortunately, this young lad will survive but that’s not always the case. We are experiencing a knife crime epidemic and the Force needs to react to that.

Rich went on to reveal that he had been speaking to a colleague about a recent incident at a Birmingham college, involving one student ‘chopping off the hand’ of a peer ‘over a dispute’.

“These are life-changing events for young people and in the worse cases, they are being murdered,” he continued.

“Young people are carrying around the most revolting weapons from swords, machetes and zombie knives. And our officers are coming across these incidents so regularly and are being left traumatised by what they see. They aren’t prepared for what they see, especially in cases involving very young people. 

“My heart goes out to younger officers who are exposed to this constant trauma. It’s the drip-drip effect, and it will start to take its toll on our valued members. 

“Frankly, we need to be tougher on these offenders. We are not being tough enough. We need a zero-tolerance policy, and we need to clamp down on offenders early when they are young. It has got to be our mission to save young lives.”

Since joining the police more than 20 years ago, Rich says he has seen the Force ‘withdraw from the streets’.

Rich added: “I know this phrase is used a lot but we need to go back to basics. We need to get our bobbies back out on the streets again and we need to stop being so risk-averse.

“What’s more, we need to start trusting and backing our colleagues again. Unfortunately, we are seeing a Force that is becoming more and more averse to taking risks and those higher up are loath to use their powers.

“But it’s just not the way policing works - we have to be prepared to act spontaneously and empower our officers to use their stop and search powers when necessary, especially for forces working in the inner cities like Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton. 

“I honestly think people who live in the county would not believe some of the things that our officers see here. Something needs to be done, and fast.”