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N umber of defendants aged 18 years and over who were convicted at all courts for illegally carrying knives, in England and Wales by police force area for the years 1997 to 2006( 1, 2, 3)
Police force area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Avon and Somerset	44	62	96	80	82	116	133	118	113	138
Bedfordshire	23	31	20	34	26	38	52	61	67	50
Cambridgeshire	21	29	25	13	23	35	26	56	43	57
Cheshire	52	56	39	40	30	40	48	39	58	70
City of London	16	8	4	8	9	17	19	20	18	11
Cleveland	13	26	27	15	34	57	55	69	63	59
Cumbria	22	22	25	19	17	31	36	38	33	30
Derbyshire	31	22	28	35	45	53	65	83	67	63
Devon and Cornwall	38	72	70	56	60	98	107	109	112	102
Dorset	18	37	28	28	29	45	41	53	53	55
Durham	21	24	27	32	25	59	49	49	70	65
Essex	64	73	81	80	73	89	112	156	143	133
Gloucestershire	13	29	15	13	19	21	24	34	33	31
Greater Manchester	181	205	188	176	209	239	250	276	291	305
Hampshire	78	86	75	77	79	86	108	133	129	124
Hertfordshire	24	24	25	24	23	49	68	64	71	65
Humberside	36	39	53	39	31	52	55	92	92	90
Kent	24	61	76	61	62	29	27	12	12	6
Lancashire	93	106	84	70	85	76	112	122	121	109
Leicestershire	44	58	52	45	52	57	78	80	70	90
Lincolnshire	16	31	47	39	37	40	60	58	47	58
Merseyside	148	144	108	98	106	137	132	169	168	178
Metropolitan Police	1,110	1,160	905	970	1,167	1,562	1,441	1,376	1,400	1,354
Norfolk	25	47	40	30	32	54	54	61	60	52
North Yorkshire	30	31	39	25	38	41	40	56	55	39
Northamptonshire	4	7	14	5	3	2	2	3	6	1
Northumbria	79	78	86	87	109	126	130	154	160	186
Nottinghamshire	40	36	38	34	41	55	68	95	91	113
South Yorkshire	41	46	48	46	92	109	122	99	136	109
Staffordshire(3)	18	33	37	(4) —	28	51	50	60	49	80
Suffolk	27	19	18	23	25	43	37	55	53	88
Surrey	16	8	10	16	21	22	33	30	30	30
Sussex	53	57	83	64	76	112	99	91	94	108
Thames Valley	54	67	70	47	64	72	66	99	122	142
Warwickshire	14	25	20	16	15	21	14	22	18	24
West Mercia	17	30	25	21	6	9	18	18	22	31
West Midlands	146	126	120	163	247	281	279	290	258	312
West Yorkshire	33	33	42	47	70	81	89	128	142	143
Wiltshire	17	24	28	24	32	24	33	40	41	55
Dyfed-Powys	14	19	29	23	28	30	34	36	34	22
Gwent	19	16	14	17	16	31	19	37	26	44
North Wales	42	50	51	32	39	57	52	60	68	103
South Wales	59	87	91	68	72	96	90	109	100	133
Total	2,878	3,244	3,001	2,840	3,377	4,343	4,427	4,810	4,839	5,058
(1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for defendants proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. (4 )Nil Note: Data for "having an article with blade or point on school premises" exclude convictions for West Mercia PFA, until clarification of these cases is obtained. Source: Court proceedings database held by RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice Our reference: PQ 176295 (Table 2).

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