21 arrests made and 161 knives handed into amnesty bins during week of action across Northamptonshire

Last week, Northamptonshire Police’s aim to tackle serious violence included activity involving the Youth Violence Intervention Unit and the Child Exploitation Hub who carried out work to engage with young people known to carry knives and attempt to build a positive rapport with them.

Neighbourhood policing teams worked with the force’s Intelligence Bureau to execute warrants designed to disrupt drug dealing and gang activity, and were also on hand at police surgeries for members of the local community to air any concerns.

Weapon sweeps, knife amnesty bins, the Beat Bus and extra patrols also took place.

Results from the week of action:

• 21 arrests were made
• 17 at risk children were engaged with
• 161 weapons were handed in to knife amnesty bins
• 169 pieces of serious violence focused intelligence were gathered
• 44 engagement events were attended
• 170 hours of hot-spot patrolling took place
• 32 stop searches were conducted

Chief Inspector Dave Wakeman said: “Tackling serious violence is a priority for Northamptonshire Police and we take a holistic approach in order to achieve the best results possible.

“I hope these results demonstrate our commitment to make Northamptonshire as safe as possible and a place where serious violence is not tolerated.

“I’d like to thank all of the police officers, special constables, and police staff who continue to work relentlessly in order to make this vision a reality and I want to reassure our local communities that we will continue working hard to bring as many offenders to justice as possible whilst safeguarding vulnerable people,” Chief Inspector Wakeman added.