More than 700 knives have been taken off the streets across Lancashire’s South Division as part of Operation Sceptre, a national week-long initiative to tackle knife crime.
Officers from South Division, which covers the areas of Preston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire, carried out a range of both operational and proactive engagement work throughout the week.
Operational activity included:
· 59 test purchase visits to check retailers are complying with legislation and not selling knifes to those under the age of 18. 57 stores passed the test. Two sold knives to children and will now be dealt with jointly by police and trading standards.
· Deployment of the knife detection arch and joint working with British Transport Police at Preston and Ormskirk.
· Numerous weapon sweeps in local parks and public spaces in which 4 weapons were discovered and seized.
· School inputs to raise awareness of the impact of carrying a knife, engaging with children from 12 schools.
Officers also engaged with the community through educational talks, community visits and leaflet drops.
The knife surrender bins across South Division were emptied, in which 706 knives were recovered.
Sergeant Rachel Killinger from Lancashire’s Violence Reduction Network said: “Our officers carry out this work all year round to tackle knife crime and send out the message that there is no place for it in South Lancashire.
“We will continue to work closely with our partners to engage with the public and educate people to try and prevent knife crime and robustly tackle it with a zero-tolerance approach.
“If you know someone who is carrying a knife, you can report it to us anonymously via Crimestoppers.’’
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