Police vow to 'throw full weight of the law' at knife-wielding criminals as crackdown continues in Fleetwood

Police turned out in Cleveleys and Fleetwood to edcuate passers-by on the dangers of knife crime - and to show off new equipment used to detect whether a person is carrying a concealed blade.
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Officers have stepped up their community prescence this week to boost Operation Sceptre - a national campaign held twice a year to raise awareness of the dangers and impacts of knife crime.

Searches for discarded weapons were carried out and 'knife arches' - a portable metal detectors used to detect whether someone is carrying a blade - were set up in Cleveleys and Fleetwood yesterday.

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Sgt Dan Whitaker, of Lancashire police, said: "It's all about raising the profile of knife crime, the negative consequences of carrying a knife, and the risks it poses to both victims and offenders.

Operation Sceptre in Fleetwood, November 19 2021Operation Sceptre in Fleetwood, November 19 2021
Operation Sceptre in Fleetwood, November 19 2021

"Young people injured by a knife are usually injured by a knife that they have armed themselves with, which has then been taken from them. Seven out of 10 that turn up at A&E have usually been injured by their own blade.

"The campaign is all about preventing knife crime happening in the first place. We have introduced knife bins in Fleetwood this week; we have visited Fleetwood High School and Millfield in Thornton. It has been really well received and there has been a lot of positive engagement."

So far, a total of 40 weapons have been collected from the knife surrender bin in London Street, close to the junction with Dock Street, Fleetwood.

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Sgt Whitaker said: "Statistics show that it's usually young males who carry knives, with the draw being gang mentality or, as they say, street cred.

"If you carry a knife and you have got no legal justification for it, you are committing an offence and will be arrested. If you carry a kniw and use it to injure someone, then you obviously go on to commit further offences, and you get all the consequences that come with that. It may restrict you later in life as you're trying to get a job.

"There is no doubt we will throw the full weight of the law at knife crime offenders, and we will see it through in court."

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