Essex Police reveal number of weapons found at schools

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request, published by Essex Police, revealed the number of offensive weapons found in educational establishments over a period of five years.

Police have found 242 offensive weapons in schools, academies and colleges in Essex from December 1 2016 to November 30 2021*.

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Here is the total number of weapons found at educational establishments each year:

2016 - one at an academy, one at a college, and two at schools

2017 - six at academies, seven at colleges, and 36 at schools

2018 - 9 at academies, five at colleges, and 33 at schools

2019 - 15 at academies, four at colleges, and 46 at schools

2020 - 16 at academies, none at colleges, and 16 at schools

2021 - 17 at academies, none at colleges, and 28 at schools

The force has noted the way the information is gathered means, in some instances, the location data for School/Academy/College may not be in reference to an educational establishment and could be the name of a road.

For example, if an offence took place in ‘School Road’ this will be returned in the filtered results.  

However, this method is still the best approach to providing the most complete picture of results.

*The data was correct as of January 11 2022