Sceptre: Knife crime intensification week sees more encouraging enforcement and education
Main article content
Following another focused effort on our daily efforts to tackle knife crime and knife-point robberies, over 250 arrests were made and over 300 knives recovered across Greater Manchester.
The national week of action, which ran from Monday 11th to Sunday 17 November saw co-ordinated action to further intensify and focus on tackling serious violence through education, engagement and enforcement.
Over the course of the week, specialised officers from the dedicated team, Operation Venture who are dealing with serious violence in key hotspot areas, such as Bolton, Oldham and South Manchester on a regular basis were supported by officers at all districts from Tameside to Wigan and Rochdale to Trafford.
From knife arches deployed at key areas throughout the day and night, to scheduled warrants, intelligence patrols and searches, test purchasing operations, outdoor knife amnesty bins and assisting with intercepting packages. All this activity resulted in the following:
- 45 school engagement visits around knife crime and the devastating consequences
- 51 test purchases conducted with only five retailers failing
- 90 weapon sweeps of key locations with positive finds
- 268 arrests combined which included knife related and knife-enabled robbery offences
- 282 knives recovered directly from amnesty bins
More: Sceptre: Tackling knife crime not only through enforcement but education | Greater Manchester Police
Whilst knife crime remains a significant threat, within Greater Manchester results show it has stabilised.
There are around 400 incidents a month relating to knife crime, with a quarter directly linked to using a knife as part of a personal robbery. This has seen a slight decrease, from over 100 incidents a month to around 97, over the last 12 months and as a proportion of total knife crime this is also reducing.
Away from enforcement and direct action to catch offenders in the act and prevent violence on the streets, education plays a key part in the ongoing work by us.
Hard-hitting talks by local officers in assemblies were key with positive feedback being received in districts such as Salford and Tameside, whilst officers were supported by our Mini Police colleagues to teach and showcase how weapon sweeps are conducted. In Stockport, alongside the British Transport Police and Trading Standards deployed to key transport locations to enforce and educate at the same time.
Superintendent Caroline Hemingway from our Operation Venture team and part of the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit said: “Our committed team, alongside supporting the work of the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – a multi-agency team that seeks to prevent violence by addressing the underlying causes, is underpinned by the wider force and the daily work we all do to help with serious violence and especially knife crime which includes knife-enabled robbery.
“We know we cannot tackle this alone through enforcement as it will not solve the issue, so we are taking a particular focus around education and referrals with key organisations to establish the root cause which we know is continuing to have positive results.
“We all need to work together to combat knife crime and I would urge anyone with information about knife crime in their local community to report it to us at the earliest opportunity, so we can look into it, act on it and help keep you safe.
“Although we’ve done a lot of work during Sceptre, our efforts don’t and won’t stop and instead highlights our ongoing determination to continue with our proactive patrols.”
You can report knife crime by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. You can also make a report via GP’s website: www.gmp.police.uk
To report anonymously, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via the website: www.Fearless.org
Our Operation Venture team, who are particularly focussed on knife crime, has made a significant dent in criminality across the force area. They’ve made 717 arrests, recovered 202 weapons, and removed them from the streets, seized 166 vehicles and over £250,000 cash, recovered over £80,000 worth of drugs, and conducted 765 positive, proactive stop and searches on key offenders since their formation over 18 months ago.