Gordon Brown promised more beat officers to help tackle street violence today as new figures showed that the problem of knife crime is not just confined to cities.

A detailed picture of the true extent of violence involving blades - revealed for the first time - showed that rural police forces also have to deal with hundreds of cases.

The grim picture was revealed in annual crime figures that included a new set of data on knife attacks in every force in England and Wales. Serious violent crimes involving a blade have previously been bundled with other attacks, but since April last year officers have recorded them separately in light of growing public concern.

Overall, however, crime figures continue to fall dramatically, according to two sets of figures released today.

The number of crimes recorded by police fell by 9 per cent from 2006/07 to 2007/08. According to the British Crime Survey, which the Government says gives a more reliable overall picture, crime actually fell by 10 per cent last year - meaning a million fewer crimes committed - and violent crime fell by 12 per cent.

Police recorded 22,151 offences involving knives last year in England and Wales, including grievous bodily harm, attempted murder, woundings and robbery. The statistics include a force-by-force breakdown of knife crime, with the highest number of offences - 7,409 - recorded in London.

The second highest figure was recorded in the West Midlands with 2,303 incidents. Third was Greater Manchester with 2,294. But many rural forces also recorded hundreds of knife crimes: Devon and Cornwall recorded 288 offences; Northumbria recorded 351; and Thames Valley 329.

Speaking outside Downing Street after a meeting with senior police officers before the publication of a Green Paper on policing, Mr Brown said that a more visible police presence on the streets had already cut violent crime.

He added: “We are clearing the decks, cutting the red tape, cutting back on bureaucracy, making it possible for policemen and women to spend far more time on the beat answering people’s inquiries, in touch with local communities - a visible presence on the beat so that more and more people will see a policeman or woman there and able to help them.”

Responding to the annual crime figures revealing the true extent of knife crime across England and Wales, Mr Brown said he wanted to make carrying a blade as unacceptable as having a gun on the streets.

He said: “It is because we have identified the problem of knife crime, and particularly in some hotspots of the country, that we have stepped up our action dramatically - more stop and search, more visible policing, more metal detectors trying to spot where knives exist, and stepping up our action with tougher sentences and a determination to say to people: if you are caught with a knife, you will be prosecuted, if you have a knife you will be punished, and we will do everything in our power to prevent people having knives.”

Speaking beside Mr Brown, Ken Jones, who heads the Association of Chief Police Officers and whose own force, Sussex, had to deal with 274 knife crimes in the past year, stressed that overall violent crime was continuing to fall - in particular the risk of being attacked on the streets by a stranger.

But he added: “Within this falling figure, we have got a serious problem around young people and knives.”

According to detailed statistics published by the Home Office, crime is falling across most categories. The risk of being a victim of crime has fallen from 24 to 22 per cent, the lowest level ever recorded since the BCS began in 1981.

Since 1997, it added, crime measured by the BCS has fallen by 39 per cent with violence down by 40 per cent and burglary down by over half (55 per cent).

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “Three years ago we set ourselves the tough challenge to reduce all crime by 15 per cent. I am extremely pleased that today’s figures show that we have exceeded this with an overall crime reduction of 18 per cent. Everybody involved - the police, local authorities, healthcare practitioners and voluntary services - has worked hard to achieve this.

“The Government’s priority is to build on what we have achieved so that everyone feels improvement. We are firmly committed to deliver further reductions in the crimes that most concern people, particularly violence involving knives and guns. Whilst the BCS shows violence falling by 40 per cent since 1997, with a 12 per cent fall in the last year alone, we also know that knives are still being used in the most serious violent incidents.“

Meanwhile, two people were arrested in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, today after a man died from knife wounds, police said. The victim, a 42-year-old man, died in Scunthorpe Hospital after he was found stabbed shortly after 2am.

A 37-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman were arrested in connection with the attack and will be questioned later today.

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown and the ladies who tweet
• Open letter to a hero's daughters, from the daughter of a murdered officer
• Transplant drug extends life in mice