Knife campaign is launched

Hand them in at station

POLICE are calling on people in Loughborough to hand in their knives as part of a week of knife crime action under National Operation Sceptre.

The seven-day operation, which started on Saturday (September 22) is intended to reduce knife crime by targeting those who carry weapons and disrupt the supply of knives available to use.

Members of the public will be able to hand over unwanted knives at Loughborough police station. In addition, Leicestershire Police’s knife arch will also be at an undisclosed location to target those carrying knives.

Officers across the Neighbourhood Policing and Priority Response teams will take part in targeted patrols throughout this time. They will also set up surrender bins and where appropriate use their stop and search powers.

Officers will also be at Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield and General hospitals, throughout the week to help highlight the message that carrying a knife can have potentially deadly consequences.

The operation sits alongside on-going work to prevent knife crime across the force including educational activities in schools and youth settings, and the #LivesNotKnives campaign which is well established.

Superintendent Shane O’Neill, who leads the force’s response to knife crime, said: “We will not tolerate people carrying knives on our streets and will do our utmost to ensure we catch offenders and deal with them appro- priately.

“We are dedicated to supporting this national operation as part of the force’s on-going work to tackle knife crime and will use our stop and search powers to prevent and detect crime, identify those who intend to cause harm and disrupt criminal networks.

“Not only that but we are doing everything we can to work with partner agencies so that early intervention messages are delivered through various channels to our young people. The most recent of these was a film made in conjunction with Leicester City Football Club which sent out a strong message to football fans that carrying a knife is not part of a team mentality.

“Through our engagement activities we are highlighting that carrying a knife is not a status symbol but instead can have some serious consequences.”