Nottinghamshire Police have discovered a knife at a popular country park in Nottingham. It comes as officers searched 10 Nottinghamshire parks in a bid to uncover any knives that have been hidden or discarded. Officers from the City West Neighbourhood team have been carrying out searches as part of Operation Sceptre, a nationwide week long campaign focusing on knife crime.
Police say public open spaces are areas where knives can be discarded, and also where some offenders hide weapons to avoid detection. One blade was found at Broxtowe Country Park on Monday, November 14, as part of the search.
The team also searched Wollaton Park, Harvey Haddon Sports Centre grounds, and parks in Bilborough, Broxtowe, Old Basford, Basford, Stockhill and Aspley. Local officers carry out regular patrols of these parks.
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Sergeant Darran Owen said: “The areas were chosen for a variety of reasons such as problems with anti-social behaviour, areas believed to be frequented by knife carriers or simply because they are large open spaces. Offenders will hide weapons in large open spaces to avoid being caught with the blade and that is why it is so important to carry out these weapon sweeps.
"On Monday we found a nasty looking knife which we have now taken off the streets. That knife could have been potentially used on someone or even the person carrying it, leaving them with life-altering injuries or even death.
"Thankfully, most of the time our parks and open spaces are free of weapons and that’s because of the work being carried out. Prevention is just as important as locking people up and we don’t want any of our open spaces becoming a storage space for knife-carriers. Every knife taken out of circulation is a potential life saved."
As part of the national week of action, Nottinghamshire Police officers will be carrying out a range of different proactive policing and public engagement work. They plan to educate people about the consequences of knife carrying, with officers set to visit different schools and colleges across the county to highlight these dangers.
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