Police Scotland have denied that knife crime in Dundee is a serious problem, despite four people being severely injured in stabbings over the past two weeks.
In two of the incidents the victims are believed to have suffered permanent disfigurement.
On Wednesday Daniel Wright, 31, of Baldovie Terrace, Dundee, appeared in private on a petition alleging he assaulted Gary McCafferty by repeatedly stabbing him with a knife or similar instrument to his severe injury.
His appearance related to an incident on Baldovie Terrace on Monday night which sparked a major police operation and resulted in a 34-year-old man being treated at Ninewells Hospital.
Three other people also appeared in private at Dundee Sheriff Court this week on petitions alleging assaults with a knife, two of them to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Recent Police Scotland figures have shown that severe assaults have dropped in the region while the force have been criticised in some quarters for clamping down on domestic abuse and also their stop and search policy.
Chief Superintendent Hamish McPherson recently presented the figures to Dundee City Council, which showed that there had been a 24% reduction in serious assault over the past year.
These recent incidents, however, show that knife crime is still a major issue for police.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Goodwin of Tayside Division says most knife assaults involve people who are known to each other and stresses that attacks on strangers are very rare.
He said: “Tayside does not experience the same levels of knife crime as other parts of Scotland or the UK and people should be reassured that it is a safe place to live, work and socialise.
“But that does not mean we are, or should ever be, complacent about such incidents. The carrying of a knife can lead to the taking of a life and it will not be tolerated by Police Scotland.
“We will use all means at our disposal to take offensive weapons off the streets and out of harm’s way.
“Accordingly, offensive weapons are regularly seized from people before they ever have the chance to use them.
“In this way we avert any risk of death or serious injury and that person is dealt with by the courts.
“Serious assaults involving offensive weapons do occur. In the majority of incidents the person responsible is known to their victim and often within a domestic or family environment.
“That does not make their actions any less serious, far from it, but it is important to understand that the chances of such an attack being a stranger crime are low.
“People should also be reassured that serious assaults involving weapons are extremely rare.
“Our officers will use stop and search activities by consent, or wherever an individual comes to the police’s attention for related or unrelated matters, or indeed where our officers are suspicious of a person’s behaviour or the circumstances we find them in.
“Police Scotland’s intentions are to keep people safe and we firmly believe that proactive policing of this kind is successful in reducing serious violent crime and that the public are reassured by our actions.
“A knife or similar weapon can be fatal in the wrong hands. That applies to the person who carries it as much as anyone who might cross their path.
“Serious and life changing injuries can result. Lives can and have been lost.
“Such crimes affect many lives family, friends and the wider community.”