Our county’s police and crime commissioner has spoken of his support for a “vigorous” stop and search policy in the county, as latest figures indicate knife crime is on the rise in Hertfordshire.

Last March, our PCC David Lloyd approved a £140,000 grant aimed at tackling knife and serious violent crime across the county. This was backed by the county council, who matched this grant to make the total investment £280,000.

The latest figures released show there were 550 offences involving knives and sharp instruments recorded by Herts police between April 2018 and March 2019 - a small rise compared to the previous data set.

READ MORE: 'It's clear society is changing' - Police respond to rising knife crime figuresIn response to this increase, Mr Lloyd said: "I have ensured it a top priority of the constabulary to tackle this menace. They have my full support for a vigorous stop and search policy, which has resulted in more knife and bladed instruments being found. This directly increases the levels of recorded knife crime.

According to the latest stop and search figures released by Herts police, 65 per cent of stop and searches resulted in no further action being taken between April 2018 and February 2019.

Of the 6,446 total recorded stop and searches between April 2018 and February 2019, there were 1,380 resulting arrests made by the police.

Mr Lloyd continued: "My office has also invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in the last year in education and preventatives schemes to reduce knife crime in the county.

"These are policies that are now in place and are working to reduce the problem in the medium to long term."