Bristol police are running a week of education and enforcement to tackle to knife crime in the city.\u00a0 It’s part of Op Sceptre, a national week of police action against carrying knives led by the Metropolitan Police.<\/p>\n
During the last twelve months, Avon and Somerset police have dealt with a 52 per cent increase in reports of knife crime.<\/p>\n
Between April 2017 to April 2018, there were 1835 incidents, a steep rise of 634 incidents from the 1201 incidents\u00a0 reported between April 2016 to April 2017.<\/p>\n
The police log knife crimes which involve members of the public carrying or using a knife. Statistics related to knives in domestic incidents are not included in this figure.<\/p>\n
During 2018, there were 538 knife related crimes in the Avon and Somerset area which resulted in injury.<\/p>\n
Chief Inspector Zoe Chegwyn, leads on knife crime for Avon and Somerset Police. She stresses that their educational work with young people is on-going and not just linked to campaigns or publicised weeks of action. But, she is keen to emphasise that they will be delivering ‘hard hitting’ workshops over the next few days, bringing home the impact that knife crime has on families.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe Op Sceptre weeks of action are an important time in our calendar, as we can really focus on enforcement activity which has a direct impact on the number of knives on our streets, where they can and do cause serious harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy using a range of tactics and approaches, we can visibly show communities the ways in which we are working to reduce the impact of knives on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government\u2019s Serious Violence Strategy is clear that police enforcement alone is not going to stop knife crime; we must take a holistic approach and work alongside other agencies in health, local government, the charitable sector and local communities to understand the reasons that young people are arming themselves in this way, and how we can prevent and reduce this.”<\/p>\n
She says young people who are worrying that their friends are carrying knives can do something about it anonymously by contacting Fearless through Crimestoppers.<\/p>\n
This coming Friday and Saturday night (March 15\u00a0 and 16) Bristol officers will be working with licensed premises in Bristol, Bath and Weston to speak to people about the risks of carrying knives. They will also be supporting door security staff with entry searches.<\/p>\n
There are permanent knife bins across Avon and Somerset, with a new one recently placed at the police enquiry office in Weston-Super-Mare.<\/p>\n
Between Saturday 09 March to Sunday 17 March, additional temporary knife bins will be in place at:<\/p>\n
Frome police post in the town centre \u2013 Somerset
\nBroadbury Road Police Station \u2013 Bristol
\nTrinity Road Police station \u2013 Bristol
\nBristol Magistrates Court
\nBristol Crown Court<\/p>\n
Permanent surrender bins are\u00a0 in the following locations:<\/p>\n
Bridewell Police Custody Centre \u2013 Bristol
\nPatchway Police Custody Centre \u2013 South Glos
\nKeynsham Police Custody Centre \u2013 BANES
\nBridgwater Police Custody Centre \u2013 Somerset
\nWeston-Super-Mare Town Hall \u2013 North Somerset<\/p>\n
Police advise people with information to contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, which is 100 per cent anonymous on 0800 555 111 or via their Anonymous Online Form.<\/p>\n
No personal details are taken, information cannot be traced or recorded and you will not go to court or have to speak to police when contacting Crimestoppers.<\/p>\n
More from Chopsy Baby<\/strong> Knife Crime Bristol Bristol police are running a week of education and enforcement to tackle to knife crime in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":31228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bristol-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSubscribe\u00a0on YouTube:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/chopsybaby\/<\/a>
\nFollow\u00a0us on Twitter\u00a0http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/chopsy_baby<\/a>
\nLike\u00a0us on Facebook at\u00a0http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chopsybristol<\/a>
\nFollow\u00a0us on Instagram\u00a0https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/chopsybristol<\/a>
\nGo Home\u00a0http:\/\/www.chopsybaby.com\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"