Officers from across Nottinghamshire have been out patrolling the county armed with metal detectors in a bid to crack down on knife crime.
The proactive sweeps were aimed at finding any discarded weapons that could harm innocent people or to find any weapons that have been hidden.
Police have targeted areas throughout the week including, Broadgate Park, in Beeston, Peggys Park, and Pirate Park, in Sherwood, Broxtowe Country Park, Broxtowe, Forest recreation Ground, in Forest Fields and Welbeck Park, in The Meadows.
Alongside using the equipment to search for any weapons officers also took the opportunity to speak with residents across the different communities about the dangers of knives and other offensive weapons and gave advice to anyone with any concerns.
Amnesty bins have also been placed across the county encouraging people to leave their unwanted knives without the fear of being prosecuted.
The operations were organised as the force supports Operation Sceptre, a national knife crime campaign week aimed at highlighting the work that goes on all year round to tackle the use of knives and educate people from all the different communities.
As well as sweeping open spaces for weapons, the force’s dedicated knife crime and Operation Reacher teams and schools and early intervention officers have continued their hard work to investigate, prevent and steer young people away from crime.
Superintendent Kathryn Craner, the force’s knife crime lead, said: “Operations like this are so important for the whole of Nottinghamshire in showing members of the public that we are taking an incredibly strong stance on tackling knife crime.
“Officers from across the whole force have been out this week with metal detectors scanning areas that are known to have been involved in knife crime or where the public are telling us they have concerns about knife crime.
“We know that knife crime is something that each and every community in Nottinghamshire feel very strongly about and we are listening to all of those concerns and acting on them with operations like this one by sending our officers out with metal detectors.
“Even though we didn’t find any knives or offensive weapons during this operation we were still out in force keeping the public safe, reassuring them and deterring criminals from this kind of behaviour.
“These sweeps are a great way for officers to get out into the communities and speak with the public and is something we continue to do throughout the year – not just during this week.
“The use of knives and offensive weapons can have a devastating impact on a person, a family, a friend, and a community, and our stance will never change on how seriously we take any reports.
“Alongside our partners, we are continuing to work tirelessly throughout the year to prevent knife crime and protect people from the harm it causes, and we will continue to work with the communities to further drive down knife crime.”
For more knife crime advice, including organisations providing support, visit https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/knifecrime/advice
Anyone with information on knife crime in their local community is urged to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. In an emergency, always dial 999.
