Hundreds of knives have been detained in Hampshire as part of Operation Sceptre, a national police operation to tackle knife crime.
Some 553 knives were surrendered by the public across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This figure is four times the number handed in compared to the last such operation in May.
Operation Sceptre ran 13-19 November, with the total number of recovered and seized weapons and knives reaching 637.
This was bolstered by direct police activity such as stop and search and pre-planned knife crime operations, including knife sweeps and knife arches, a walkthrough metal detector, one of which was set up at the exit of the Gosport ferry terminal, resulting in one arrest.
Chief Superintendent Clare Jenkins, said: “These figures for surrendered knives and weapons may sound alarming to the public, but I’d like to offer reassurance that we are tackling knife crime with a zero-tolerance attitude, and the education and awareness of the updated law will have had a large influence on this.”
A full list of the banned offensive weapons can be found online at Selling, buying and carrying knives and weapons - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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