'We're winning fight against gun and knife crime' insists We...

'We're winning fight against gun and knife crime' insists West Midlands Police Chief Constable amid latest violence on region's streets

Chief Constable Craig Guildford spoke after a series of violent incidents on the region's streets. A man was murdered in Phoenix Park, Wolverhampton, today (Wednesday), just yards from the scene of a shooting in August that has led to a man admitting attempted murder. Detectives also investigated a possible discharge of a gun in the city on Tuesday. A man was shot and badly injured in a daytime attack near Wolverhampton's city centre Sainsbury's store on October 13. And two men were killed as they sat in a vehicle in Whitmore Reans on September 19. The Chief Constable said that there were still challenges around public perception of both gun and knife crime. But he blamed a mixture of negative reporting in the media and the prevalence of social media for heightening fear. He told the Express & Star he felt there were plenty of "positives" to report, saying: "I do still think, with knife crime, there's a factor of the issue sounding worse than it is and, obviously, we put out stories which are hopefully intended to reassure the public about just how much work we're doing on it, how seriously we're taking it and, most importantly, how we bring some of these people to justice for the things they have done. "Some of that is quite a challenge when it comes to the way that some of the reporting happens on social media, so I think we're always going to be up against that, but we've got to redouble our efforts to make sure we get the positive messages out to counter some of this narrative. "In terms of firearms, the trajectory is really positive, as not only have we recovered more firearms that we have done previously, but the number of discharges have also reduced, with the lowest number of discharges in six years. "Last year, we recovered 137 weapons and we had 123 surrendered and, so far this year, we've recovered 104 and had 152 surrendered so, overall, gun crime is down 15 per cent.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford spoke after a series of violent incidents on the region's streets.

A man was murdered in Phoenix Park, Wolverhampton, today (Wednesday), just yards from the scene of a shooting in August that has led to a man admitting attempted murder.

Detectives also investigated a possible discharge of a gun in the city on Tuesday. A man was shot and badly injured in a daytime attack near Wolverhampton's city centre Sainsbury's store on October 13. And two men were killed as they sat in a vehicle in Whitmore Reans on September 19.

The Chief Constable said that there were still challenges around public perception of both gun and knife crime.

But he blamed a mixture of negative reporting in the media and the prevalence of social media for heightening fear.

He told the Express & Star he felt there were plenty of "positives" to report, saying: "I do still think, with knife crime, there's a factor of the issue sounding worse than it is and, obviously, we put out stories which are hopefully intended to reassure the public about just how much work we're doing on it, how seriously we're taking it and, most importantly, how we bring some of these people to justice for the things they have done.

"Some of that is quite a challenge when it comes to the way that some of the reporting happens on social media, so I think we're always going to be up against that, but we've got to redouble our efforts to make sure we get the positive messages out to counter some of this narrative.

"In terms of firearms, the trajectory is really positive, as not only have we recovered more firearms that we have done previously, but the number of discharges have also reduced, with the lowest number of discharges in six years.

"Last year, we recovered 137 weapons and we had 123 surrendered and, so far this year, we've recovered 104 and had 152 surrendered so, overall, gun crime is down 15 per cent.