A fatal stabbing and robbery where a man suffered punctured wounds to the chest tie into a larger issue around weapon culture says one of the county's top officers.
Superintendent Andy Martin spoke about the issues at large as he reassured the public about the steps being taken by officers following the death of an 18-year-old in Ipswich on Tuesday.
On Wednesday night in Tower Ramparts, a 55-year-old man was taken to hospital with a minor puncture wound to his chest following a robbery near Crown Pools.
The two incidents are not being treated as linked.
Superintendent Martin said: "The incident on Tuesday is absolutely devastating for us and I know it was devastating for the community and something we have worked tirelessly to avoid to some good success over the last nine to twelve months.
"But it is just regrettable that we weren't able to prevent what happened but this ties into a larger cultural issue around the willingness to carry weapons and the willingness to engage in this kind of offending.
"What we are competing with here is not just criminals but people that are culturally engaging in a different way of life then what we are used to."
He said officers were working "tirelessly" to locate two suspects who are wanted in connection with the investigation into the 18-year-old's death.
Emergency services were called to reports of a stabbing in Westgate Street at about 3.35pm on Tuesday.
Late on Tuesday evening, Suffolk police confirmed the man, 18, had died as a result of the incident.
It has since been confirmed that the teenager was from Norfolk.
Superintendent Martin said: "We still have two initial suspects we have gathered from our enquiries and as a result of that there is a significant amount of work going on in terms of CCTV reviews and contacting witnesses.
"We have had some witnesses come forward including some to our pod in town centre which is really reassuring.
"At the moment we are working through all enquiries."
Officers are searching for two male suspects involved in the assault who were seen to leave the scene.
One suspect headed towards Providence Street and the other suspect was seen to be heading towards the Cornhill.
Supt Martin said it is important that anyone who has any information comes forward to police.
"It is absolutely vital," he said.
"These investigations succeed and fail based on the engagement from our communities.
"We have seen over the past 12 months a real willingness for people to come forward.
"People can report anything to us on 101 or by online MIPP which is the Major Incident Police Portal.
"If someone types that into Google they can click on Suffolk police and the incident and any information that people give us go straight to the Major Investigations Team."
Floral tributes have been left outside shops in Westgate Street close to where the incident happened.
One tribute to the 18-year-old reads: "We all love you. We will meet again some day bro."
He said the incident in Crown Street on Wednesday was "extremely regrettable".
He added: "At the moment our initial enquiries don't demonstrate any links between the two incidents.
"When we look at violence figures pre-covid we have seen a slight increase in violence but that is at common assault level.
"In terms of serious violence, we haven't seen a significant increase in any offending.
"What is particularly acute about these incidents is we are seeing what the rest of the country is seeing which is more brazen and daylight assaults rather than in the evening.
"Our data show that offences that would have previously happened overnight are now happening earlier in the day and earlier afternoon."
Supt Martin said that people should not be worried about coming into Ipswich and officers are there to keep them safe.
He added: "We are there for them and despite how it may feel and at times it may feel different and whilst people may feel unsafe we can assure them that Ipswich remains overall a safe place.
"We are going to work tirelessly to find the offenders and like we have done for the last 12 months we will continue to arrest offenders and take a lot of proactive action."
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