Knife Harm Awareness Week and Operation Sceptre

“If there are two things I want people to understand, it’s that not everyone is carrying a knife – not even close – and that you should never think that carrying one is good for protection.”

Those are the words of Detective Chief Inspector Ian Hughes, of Essex Police serious violence unit, as a week-long intensification of the work to combat knife crime is launched across the county today, Monday 15 May.

Knife harm is the number one concern of young people across Essex, and the VVU recently launched a campaign aimed at educating parents about the dangers of carrying a knife.

The work to tackle knife crime is carried out by police officers 24-hours a day, seven-days-a-week, but Op Sceptre Week will see a number of specific operations being carried out across the county, including the use of knife arches, Open Gate devices and hand held Garrett weapons detectors.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Hughes continued: “We know knife crime destroys lives; it affects families who have lost loved ones forever and one family losing a loved one is clearly one too many.

“But if there are two things I want people to understand, it’s that not everyone is carrying a knife – not even close – and that you should never think that carrying one is good for protection. We put significant effort into tackling knife crime including ‘hotspot’ policing, intelligence gathering, using knife arches and when we carry out those operations, we do find people who are carrying weapons, but they are the exceptions; the overwhelming majority of people do not have weapons with them.

“The number of people carrying weapons is small – and we are finding them and we’re dealing with them.”

Statistics

Knife-enabled crime is going down across the county. In the 12 months to March 2020, the best pre-pandemic period with which to compare, there were 1,881 knife crime offences. The 12 months to March 2022, there were 1,634 offences and in the 12 months to March this year, there were 1,622.

Essex Police are also detecting more knife offences, with possession of weapons offences increasing from 1,351 in the year to April 2022 to 1,786 this April. In each of these incidents that is at least one weapon being seized and taken out of the hands of people who could potentially use it to cause harm.

DCI Hughes added: “We know that knife crime and violence is not an issue the police can tackle alone, and we work shoulder to shoulder with partners to address it.

“In Essex, we are incredibly lucky to have so many partners, such as the Essex Violence and Vulnerability Unit, which believes the same as we do – that the response to knife crime requires a whole system approach by working with education, health, local authorities, and probation services.

“A key focus is to help divert people who are involved in, or at risk of being involved in, knife and violent crime away from this lifestyle and into areas as sports, education, volunteering, rehabilitation.

“This is a battle that we as a community must fight together. That includes educating our children about the reality of being involved in gangs and the reality that carrying a knife will not protect them. In fact, it is more likely that doing so will lead to them being hurt or them hurting someone else.”

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex and Chair of the Violence and Vulnerability Partnership, said: “Operation Sceptre is about tackling knife crime on our streets, seizing weapons and disrupting criminal activity. It is also, crucially, about education and awareness. It is about helping young people understand the dangers of carrying a knife and helping parents to spot the signs their child may be at risk.

“Every knife we seize could mean a life saved, every child we speak to spreads the message that it’s safer not to carry a knife. We know our children and communities in Essex are concerned about knife crime and the more education and enforcement that we can do the more we will reduce knife crime and the devastation it has on young people and families.”

Knife bins

Across Essex, there are 16 knife bins funded by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC), the Violence and Vulnerability Unit (VVU) and Essex Police. They are listed below.

The bins allow for anyone who wants to dispose of bladed weapons to do so safely and without fear of prosecution. The priority is for as many knives as possible to be taken off the streets of Essex.

Essex knife bins