Two knives recovered by police during land searches in Rotherham’s Clifton Park

Yesterday, October 23, officers organised open land searches in the Clifton Park area of Rotherham as part of their work to tackle most serious violence and anti-social behaviour (ASB) across South Yorkshire.

During the searches, officers recovered two large knives which had been hidden in undergrowth in the park.

The searches formed part of the force’s ‘hotspot response hub’, a Home Office Funded initiative which looks to put increased policing activity in identified hotspot areas that see higher levels of most serious violence and ASB.

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Inspector Joel Turner, who leads the Hotspot Response Hub work, said: “We know criminals look to use overgrown areas to store weapons and drugs. Criminals think that things are well concealed here, but in reality, anyone could find these knives, and ultimately use them to harm either themselves or others.

"Our work sees targeted operations conducted in specific areas where we unfortunately see higher levels of violence, and as part of this we look at building a wider intelligence picture of knife crime to direct future work."

As part of the same operation, a 22-year-old man was stopped and searched after he fled from officers in the area. A small bag of cannabis was found in his possession and he was processed under Restorative Justice.

A 34-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply after a large quantity of Class B drugs were found following a stop and search.