After a fatal stabbing, a teenager attacked outside the Bullring and fireworks fired at buses and officers, safety in Birmingham city centre is under pressure. This report hears from people in Birmingham about how safe the city centre feels now, how recent violence is changing daily routines, and what they want to see done to steady these streets.
00:00Knife attacks, a woman killed on Smallbrook Queensway, fireworks fired at buzzes near New Street and a teenager stabbed outside the Bullring have all landed in the same grid of streets within weeks.
00:15Police say knife crime is falling across the wider region, yet violence and sexual offences make up about a third of recorded crime in the city centre and most cases here end without a suspect charged.
00:27Those facts sit in plain sight alongside the extra patrols now running through the core of Birmingham.
00:33Before anything else, this comes down to how the city centre feels, the people moving through it.
00:39I've lived here my whole life so I kind of know what to stop for, what not to stop for, who to talk to, who not to talk to.
00:49And so I think for me, it's just about sort of getting out and just, unfortunately, I just have to sort of keep my head down and just keep going.
00:58I barely even, no offence to you, I barely even wanted to stop for you because I was like, oh, you know, things like that.
01:04So I think it's definitely, it's definitely kept, you've got to kind of keep your guard up, which is unfortunate, but yeah.
01:13It feels okay. I don't feel worried or threatened when travelling to Birmingham.
01:17I mean, also travelling to London and, you know, it's the same with that.
01:21I think the crime's everywhere you go nowadays.
01:23I'm okay. I'm just vigilant of what's happening around me, very cautious, but I won't stop doing what I do.
01:31Shop workers, bar staff, commuters and families all cut through these streets in different ways
01:36and their sense of place rarely shows up in crime charts.
01:40The figures tell you that weapon possession has risen since the pandemic
01:44and that the West Midlands carries one of the highest knife crime rights in the country.
01:49They don't tell you whether someone takes a different route to the station,
01:53leaves the shift sooner or treats certain corners differently after dark.
01:58The gap between official numbers and lived routine often reveals more about confidence
02:02than any statement from force headquarters.
02:06It would have been nice to have come at night time
02:08because I think it would be lovely to see to the night, but no, I think after dark,
02:12I think there's a bit of a no-no because the city centre, no.
02:15Any city centre? Yeah, yeah.
02:18It hasn't changed the way I use the part of Birmingham, but it's mainly think about what's actually going on in the city.
02:23It's appalling, it's disgraceful for all the local people.
02:27No, not really. No, it's just about being aware about your surroundings and what's going on around you, so no.
02:33Yeah, so I personally wouldn't sort of take any shortcuts.
02:38I kind of go where there's more people.
02:42I do find sort of down this way, once the sort of markets and things are closed,
02:48kind of stay away from this sort of general area, sort of either go round or go through if I can.
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