Police seize over 200 knives including machetes and swords as part of crack down with 29 arrested

Officers reported 29 arrests with 206 knives recovered across the county as part of Operation Sceptre.

Weapons seized included machetes, swords and hunting knives during the seven-day operation between November 15-21.

Officers used ‘every tactic available’ including weapon sweeps, knife arches in public places and surrender bins to remove knives off the streets.

During the week police successfully recovered 176 knives that had been surrendered in knife bins across the force, carried out 97 stop searches - 11 of which recovered a knife - and carried out 57 weapon sweeps of parks and open spaces where no weapons were found.

Officers also engaged with 126 schools to support education and prevention while investigations showed 50 retailers matched up with 14 on site test purchases of knives - with two stores failing by selling knives to Under 18s.

Other forms of criminality such as supplying drugs were also identified during the crack down.

Schools and local communities had events put on to talk about the dangers of knife crime with youth engagement forming a significant part of the week, helping young people move away from violence and involvement in gang activity.

Chief Inspector John Halfacre, lead for knife crime at Hampshire Constabulary, said: ‘Working closely as a force and with our partners we have recorded some great proactive results. Thanks to the intensification activity, 206 fewer knives are on the streets of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which is a great result towards our continued efforts to reduce serious violence and specifically knife crime in our communities.

‘The operation reflects our commitment to working alongside local agencies and the community to prevent knife crime. Whilst policing plays an essential role in enforcement activity we want to continue to work together alongside our Violence Reduction Network to embed a community-led approach to prevention and enforcement.

‘By working together and taking a unified approach we will ultimately be more effective in reducing knife crime and divert young people away from becoming involved with knife crime.

‘It is important that we all take a role in supporting our young people to make positive choices and facilitate conversations that bring about change, help and support is available and resources can be found on our website safe4me and the national knife free campaign.’

He added: ‘Ultimately, knife crime will not be tolerated, we will continue to tackle knife crime as a force priority and we will continue to work collaboratively to do everything we can to catch offenders and deal with them correctly.’

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Police and crime commissioner, Donna Jones, said: ‘I am very concerned about knife crime, particularly knife crime involving young people who are most at risk of being stabbed. Each arrest and every confiscation helps to reduce knife crime. This latest week of actions follows on from a highly successful week focused on disrupting drug supply and county lines networks.

‘The issues of knife crime and county lines overlap significantly; violence and weapons use are central to county lines and a range of risk factors make young people vulnerable to both exploitation within county lines and involvement in knife crime. To have a real impact we need to ensure that enforcement is teamed with education and that we work with partners to identify those young people vulnerable to exploitation early.’

Support is available from www.knifefree.co.uk and anonymously through website Fearless.

Anonymous reporting is also available through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.

Charity also offers help at www.barnardos.org.uk

In an emergency call 999.

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