Over 250 arrests were made and over 300 knives recovered across Greater Manchester during a national week of action
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.
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.”
