Police collect 250 knives with amnesty bins across region

MORE THAN 250 knives were collected during an anti-knife campaign last week.

Of the blades collected, 96 were from Berkshire, collected at police stations in Loddon Valley in Lower Earley, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading and Slough.

A Thames Valley Police chief said a key part of the success of Operation Sceptre – the national scheme launched to reduce the threat of knife crime – came from the amnesty bins.

Assistant Chief Constable Christian Bunt said: “A large number of the seizures came from our amnesty bins. It’s good that we are now coming out of lockdown so we're able to use that tactic.

“We are looking around [to see] whether we can put them in more locations that will make them as accessible as possible to people that may want to use them which is some work we're doing at the moment but they proved hugely successful.

“The issue with knives is the prevalence of them. So that’s one of our tactics that we deployed.”

Thames Valley Police also investigated 85 retailers to work out how easy it is for residents to buy knives.

ACC Bunt said: “We went to shops and retail premises that sell knives, with a view to checking they're not selling them to people underage.

“[We’re] trying to reduce the number of or the availability of knives on the streets, particularly for young people, so that’s also an important part of the work we are doing.”

Another goal of Operation Sceptre was to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife, with a focus on reducing serious youth violence.

ACC Bunt said knife crime has a huge impact on communities.

“We’ve seen the very tragic consequences of knife crime, played out nationally and also within the Thames Valley area,” he said. “We’ve had a number of murders relating to knife crime and some of those have been, unfortunately, and very young people.

“So that just goes to show the significant and tragic consequences of knife crime within our communities.

“It's for that reason that we made this a key priority for the force but also, it’s a wider societal issue.”

ACC Bunt said police are also working with community groups and voluntary groups to address issues relating to knife crime.

“We're working with stores, we’re working with our local authorities and we’re working with health [authorities] as well to make sure that we are working collectively to address the root causes of knife crime, which is really important,” he added.

“There is the enforcement action and deterrence and high visibility patrols that we need to be conducting, as we did last week, and there’s a longer-term approach that needs to be adopted here, early intervention, working with children in schools and educating them and diverting them away from getting involved in knife crime is going to be absolutely key to our approach.”

Operation Sceptre also included patrols in areas where intelligence suggested people may be carrying knives, search warrants, plainclothes officers and stop-and-search.

ACC Bunt said he was “very pleased” with the “successful” operation.

“This is ongoing activity for us,” he said. “We are running operations all of the time to tackle knife crime because we have got a Violence Reduction Unit here and that enforcement activity is a key part of the work that we're doing as business as usual.

“We made 35 arrests, we took 256 knives off the streets that could have been used for criminal offences.

“And we will undoubtedly get a number of prosecutions following those arrests as well.”

He said the operation had raised the profile of police work.

“For people that are carrying knives on the streets, we want to make sure that they know that if they do there’s a good chance you'll be stopped and dealt with by Thames Valley Police,” he warned.

To report a knife related crime to police, dial 999 if there is an immediate danger to life

Alternatively, call 101 or visit the Thames Valley Police website