Am I missing something?

The police are cracking down on people carrying knives, but they're not being consistent. Now, as a Libertarian, I don't think the police need to be bothering people just for carrying tools. I do think they should act much more severely towards people who abuse those tools and cause others harm. However, I digress.

A government edict to get tough on knife offenders is being ignored by police forces throughout the country, despite mounting public concern and a spate of killings.

Figures obtained by The Times show that in some areas as many as half of all adults caught carrying a blade receive a caution instead of being prosecuted.

OK ... sounds ominous. But one aspect of this story leapt out at me:

Amid a crackdown on knife crime and a huge operation to target offenders and seize weapons, London’s Metropolitan Police had a charge rate of 90 per cent.

The lenient treatment of many knife offenders is revealed just days after the British Crime Survey showed that more than 350 knife-crime offences were being committed every day. In London, 21 teenagers have been killed this year – the majority of whom were victims of stabbings.

The wave of violence continued over the weekend when a young father was fatally stabbed in North London. A 27-year-old Devon man, Elliot Guy, was found in Tufnell Park with a stab wound to his neck shortly after he left a party. He had been visiting London to help to decorate his mother’s house. Three people were arrested in connection with his death.

Another man, in his early 20s, was in a critical condition in hospital last night after he was found with stab wounds in Feltham, West London. Police also confirmed that a 16-year-old boy arrested in connection with the latest teenage killing had been released on bail. Frederick Moody, 18, died just yards from his home in Stockwell, South London, when he was attacked on Thursday night.

So, clearly, that 90% charge rate is really working in London, isn't it?