Community Safety team supports police’s knife crime operation
Friday, 24 May 2024
Our Community Safety and Partnerships Team were out and about last week across Central Bedfordshire, supporting Operation Sceptre, a national initiative which aims to tackle knife crime.
Last week, the team supported Bedfordshire Police’s activity across Central Bedfordshire. Throughout the week, Safer Neighbourhood Officers and Safer Communities Officers carried out weapons sweeps in Ampthill, Flitwick, Leighton Buzzard, Biggleswade, Sandy, Dunstable and Shefford. The team were joined by police officers to look for weapons that had been either discarded or hidden for future use.
On Wednesday (15 May) and Thursday (16 May), members of the team went to speak to pupils at a number of educational establishments, talking to them about knife crime and exploitation.
The team’s Safer Business Officer also visited businesses in Sandy who sell knives, ensuring they were aware of the need to ask anyone buying a knife for ID and make sure that knives were stored and displayed safely and securely.
Councillor Rebecca Hares, Executive Member for Health and Community Liaison, said:
Thankfully our teams found no weapons when they were carrying out their weapons sweeps, but I hope their presence in the areas they visited was reassuring for residents and shows how seriously we take knife crime.
The team were able to speak to lots of residents throughout the week, including young people, and share information with them from Bedfordshire’s Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU). Education on topics like the dangers of knife crime and the signs of exploitation is crucial for empowering young people and keeping them safe.
It’s only by working together that we can continue to build safer communities, and we were pleased to support Bedfordshire Police with Operation Sceptre last week.