Police bosses are using education as a way to curb knife crime.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martyn Underhill says he will be writing to all schools in the county asking what they’ll do to educate children about knives.

It comes after the PCC raised concerns about an increase in knife-related crimes which increased significantly across the county over the last few years.

Mr Underhill said that education is the key to preventing the kind of issues faced in other areas of the country.

He added: “We’ve now got schools under the local education authority and we’ve got academies, which means some schools get loads of input from the police education team and some don’t get any.

“We’ve got to balance that so every child in Dorset knows how dangerous it is to carry knives.

“Nationally, we know that children, often from unsupportive backgrounds, are being targeted by organised crime groups to carry drugs for them and sometimes knives.

“The individual may come to see the drug network as family but the reality is that they are being exploited, putting themselves in danger and are disposable to whomever is grooming them.

“They need help in developing the capacity to make positive decisions around their peer groups, involvement in crime and carrying weapons.”

It comes after Home Office figures show that Dorset Police recorded 234 crimes in which knives were used between October 2016 and September 2017, an increase of 65 per cent on the same period in 2012-13.

The most common offence recorded for those crimes was assault with injury or intent to cause serious harm. There were 131 such incidents recorded in the 12 months to September 2017, 56 per cent of all knife crimes.

Mr Underhill continued: “I’m concerned that some of our teenagers are worried about people with knives or weapons.

“We don’t want young people to carry knives, whether as a status symbol or because they misguidedly believe everyone else is.”