Police are working to reduce knife crime in National Action Week

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Police have taken part in a national week of action to further reduce knife crime following recent falls in knife crime in West Yorkshire.

Knife sweeps, increased patrols in areas known for knife crime and educational visits to schools were among the activities taking place from May 13 as part of Sceptre’s national week of action.

Scepter has become a key twice-yearly initiative to reduce knife crime and is regularly supported by officers, including the force’s specialist team Operation Jemlock, which is dedicated to reducing knife and violent crime.

Activity in West Yorkshire over the week so far has included extensive knife crime prevention patrols in parts of Leeds and test purchases to ensure knives are not being supplied illegally.

Officers in Calderdale and Wakefield also held engagement events to warn residents and young people about the dangers of guns.

In Wakefield, officers also carried out a gun sweep of Agbrigg Park and held a knife amnesty to encourage the disposal of blades.

Meanwhile, Kirklees Police carried out checks in rural areas of Dewsbury and Huddersfield for bladed weapons and also attended schools to carry out knife crime prevention activities.

Police have also seized weapons as part of proactive activity, such as the seizure of a variety of bladed weapons in an operation in Pellon, Halifax, earlier in the week.

A West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership conference held in Halifax on Tuesday also brought together police and partners to discuss and update the latest work being done to reduce crime.

Knife crime itself has remained stable over the past 12 months in West Yorkshire, however the latest figures show an 11% reduction in crime over the past 6 months (October 23-March 24) compared to the previous 6 months.

Continuing to reduce knife crime and raising awareness of the dangers posed by knives remains a key priority for the force until 2024, as it does in communities.

The force’s Operation Jemlock continues to roll out across West Yorkshire’s knife crime hotspots, providing a visible extra police presence to deter crime and proactively hunt down criminals using a variety of tactics and police powers.

Since 2019, officers in the operation have made over 10,500 arrests, carried out over 11,500 stops and searches recovering 2500 guns from our streets.

Police operations to reduce knife crime continue to be complemented by partners, including the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, hosted by the Violence Reduction Partnership.

The Violence Reduction Partnership itself was established in 2019, funding key intervention activities within communities to try to prevent crime from occurring.

Chief Inspector James Kitchen, from West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Jemlock, said:

“We know residents are very concerned about knife crime and we remain committed to the significant work we do to reduce it.

“Our operations run every day of the week to take criminals and guns off the streets, just as the huge investment in knife crime awareness works in communities and young people in particular.

“The Scepter Action Weeks are a very important part of our ongoing work with partners to reduce knife crime. Residents will see a range of operations taking place in their communities by Operation Jemlock and Neighborhood Policing Team officers, including evidence-led patrols, knife sweeps, test buy operations and a range of enforcement activities.

“Colleagues from the neighborhood policing team will also be going to a number of schools to engage with children about the risks to themselves and others if they carry knives. The latest virtual reality training will be used to help children understand the risks associated with carrying knives.

“Working in partnership with communities is absolutely essential to make llama carriage unacceptable in society and this is a theme of the upcoming week of action.”

Director of West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP), Detective Chief Superintendent Lee Berry said: “Tackling knife crime can only be achieved in partnership and events like this allow us to recognize gaps and tackle challenges. There is a huge amount of preventative and proactive work going on to protect our communities from serious violence.

“In the past year alone, VRP has reached 24,991 under-24s and 816 over-25s through our focused interventions, not to mention training 392 professionals.”