Police to raid homes in crackdown on knife crime in South Yorkshire

As part of a national blitz, know as Operation Sceptre, officers will raid the home of those suspected of carrying or having used knives in crimes.

Extra patrols will also be carried out in communities affected by knife crime and knife arches will be used in public places to root out those walking the streets armed.

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Weapon sweeps are planned, where land searches will be undertaken to look for discarded or hidden weapons.

Nationally, knife crime is up 16 per cent, with 40,147 offences recorded last year.

In South Yorkshire, knife crime went up by 14 per cent, with 1,008 crimes logged - up 126 on the year before.

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Detective Inspector Jamie Henderson, of Sheffield CID, said: 'Knife crime takes lives and devastates communities.

'There is never an acceptable reason for someone to be carrying a knife in Sheffield.

'We take knife crime and incidents involving knives incredibly seriously.'

He added: 'Under Operation Sceptre, we have officers and teams across the force working hard to tackle these kinds of incidents.

'We have a number of activities planned - engagement stalls, targeted patrols, warrants, knife arches and weapon sweeps - however such proactive action is only part of the solution and enforcement only gets you so far.

'This is not just a policing issue. We need everyone to join together to tackle knife crime.'

DI Henderson added: 'We are continuing to work with schools to educate pupils in the consequences of carrying a knife. Ensuring they are aware of the short and long terms repercussions is vital.'

He urged members of the public with information on those carrying knives in their communities to come forward. 

'We do listen to what communities say,' he added.

Call South Yorkshire Police on 101.