Sceptre: Knife crime awareness week launches

A national knife crime week of action known as Sceptre begins today and will run until Sunday 25 May 2025. Sceptre is a national coordinated effort to tackle knife crime. It aims to remove dangerous weapons off the streets, and reduce and prevent serious violence.

Tackling knife crime is not something police can do alone. Throughout the week of action, we will be co-ordinating additional policing activity and working closely with partners including the Violence Reduction Unit, local authorities, public health, youth workers and charities to protect communities and young people from the threat of knife crime.

Some of the increased police activity will include:

• Additional high visibility patrols, particularly in hotspot locations and targeting repeat offenders
• Promoting the surrender bins that are located around the force for people to deposit knives and other bladed weapons safely and anonymously
• Additional focus on keeping people safe on nights out and in town centres
• Checking in on retailers are aware of laws on selling knives and doing spot checks
• Working with schools, colleges and youth groups to educate young people on the dangers of carrying knives
• Conducting weapons sweeps for hidden or discarded knives
• Staffing knife arches in order to detect and deter people from carrying knives
• Talking about initiatives in the communities that aim to reduce knife crime and serious violence.

Collectively we are making progress in reducing knife crime and its root causes in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to protect your community. Since 2022, knife crime and bladed article offences have gone down by 19% in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which makes it one of the largest reduction in the country.

The week of action is also an opportunity for people to surrender any knives or any bladed article that could be used as a weapon at surrender bins which are permanently located around Hampshire and Isle of Wight.

Inspector Michael Minnock, Tactical Lead for Knife Crime, said: “Sceptre is an opportunity to intensify our efforts to tackle knife crime and keep our communities safe, but it’s also a year round priority for our Force as we consistently work to disrupt and reduce serious violence.

“A central part of what we do is dealing with the accessibility of deadly and intimidating weapons and we’re doing all we can to reduce how easily they can end up in the wrong hands. Policing alone cannot solve the complex issue of knife crime. That’s why we work closely with our partners across education, health, and community services – collaboration that is crucial to our collective efforts. By taking a public health approach, we are maximising opportunities to divert individuals away from violence and towards safer, more positive futures.

“We understand it can be worrying to hear about people being injured or killed by knives, but carrying a knife yourself puts you at greater risk. It’s important we all remember that very few people do carry knives, but, sadly, some people think it’s acceptable to and it’s important we challenge that behaviour. If someone you know is carrying knife you must report it for everyone’s safety.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Donna Jones said: “Knife crime remains a serious concern across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with many young people saying they carry a knife because they don’t feel safe without one, while in truth it actually puts them at greater risk of being involved in serious violence.

“Sceptre is an important week to tackle knife crime, reduce the number of incidents and get to the root causes of it along with educating parents about the risks of gang culture.

“During my first term as PCC I introduced the Violent Crime Taskforce to focus on reducing serious violence, while my office’s Violence Reduction Unit work closely with the Constabulary to combat knife crime and work closely with schools, the Youth Justice Service and local organisations to educate and support young people.

“The work we have already done has seen Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with one of the largest reductions in the number of incidents involving knife crime across the country, but the pressures on young people today are greater than ever, not least with them being exposed to harmful content online.

“Tackling knife crime requires a multi-agency approach and it remains one of my top priorities as Police and Crime Commissioner. I am determined to help get more knives and dangerous weapons off the streets of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and to keep our young people safe.”

 Support is available through the charity The Ben Kinsella Trust and you can also speak to us by calling 101 and asking for the local Neighbourhood Team. In an emergency, always call 999.

If there are areas where you live or spend time that don’t feel safe you can report this anonymously via StreetSafe. The information is given to your local police force who can then look at what they can do to improve safety in that area.

Anonymous reporting is available through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.