Community Safety Team support knife crime week of action
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
We supported Bedfordshire Police with Operation Sceptre last week (16 to 20 May) – a week of action to tackle knife crime.
Our Safer Neighbourhood Officers and Safer Communities Engagement Officers worked alongside police officers to carry out weapons sweeps in Flitwick, Houghton Regis and Biggleswade. The purpose of a sweep is to search for hidden or discarded weapons in areas like parks, woodland, or public spaces.
The team found a number of drug-related items including deal bags and a cannabis grinder, which has now been destroyed. They were able to speak to members of the public about the searches they were carrying out and offer some reassurance about how we can help tackle issues like anti-social behaviour.
Councillor Ian Dalgarno, our Executive Member for Community Services, said:
We are pleased to have been able to support our colleagues at Bedfordshire Police with Operation Sceptre. Working together to tackle issues like knife crime is so important to create safe neighbourhoods. Our Community Safety Team will continue to act on issues which affect our communities and work with our partners to make sure Central Bedfordshire’s residents feel safe and secure here.
Detective Chief Inspector Katie Dounias from Bedfordshire Police said:
Unfortunately, knife crime has become a big issue in our society, and it is important that we continue to work hard to reduce the threat of knife crime and the impact it has.
This is why it is so important for anyone who has information on knife crime in their local community to report it to us either via our website or by calling 101, as this helps us to build a better picture of the areas we need to target to keep people safe.