DORSET does have a knife crime problem – but almost all the incidents take place in the home.

The county’s police and crime commissioner says there is very little chance of a random, unprovoked attack, anywhere in county and there is no need for young people to carry knives for protection.

He told the police and crime panel on Tuesday that the figures for knife crime now stand at around 200 a year, compared to just 50 in 2012.

“The majority of incidents involving a knife in Dorset are domestic where someone picks up a knife and stabs someone in a domestic incident…it’s the same across whole of Dorset.”

He said the county simply did not have the level of gang related knife problems which were being experienced in London and big cities like Bristol.

Mr Underhill said that despite this there was likely to be hundreds of young people in the county carrying around a knife in the belief that it would protect them, a false view which he said needed to be challenged.

He said that the use of knives in the home also needed attention with advice available for people who felt they might be at risk from a violent partner, or someone else where they live.