Police send undercover teenagers to buy knives from Dorset stores
11 shops in Dorset were put to the test
Dorset Police's anti-knife campaign has been putting local stores to the test.
Officers sent under-18 year-olds in to eleven shops with a mission to attempt to buy a knife while underage.
It's part of the police-wide campaign named 'Operation Sceptre', an attempt to prevent knife crime before it happens.
Ordinarily the campaign provides a week's amnesty on knives, where locals are allowed to surrender bladed weapons without the threat of punishment. But, that's not been possible this year because of social distancing restrictions.
Instead Police are raising awareness for the issue and checking everyone's playing their part in preventing knife crime.
All of the under-18s were turned away by shop, which officers are praising them for.
Chief Inspector Gavin House said:
"This year's campaign was challenging in a number of ways because of the COVID-issues.
"Getting weapons of our streets is hugely important to us. Educating younger people about the use of weapons, the carrying of weapons and educating the public about how impacting it can be to people's lives.
"I'm really pleased that our local retailers have shown such restraint and have been really keen to be making sure people are old enough to buy a weapon."
He added:
"We can't just be all about enforcement, what we're trying to do is educate people to stop them going out on the streets with knives in the first place."
This is part of that scheme to stop knives making their way into the hands of underage people.
Chief Inspector House said:
"I have to say I don't think there's really a sensible reason to have a knife with you at all. Some of the reasons people give is that they're afraid and they have it for self -protection.
"It's not a lawful reason for a start. To say you need it for protection, you're much more likely to be injured yourself if you're carrying a weapon than if you're not.
He says another reason that people carry knives in public is because of county lines drug gangs, who carry drugs across wide areas of the country. Gavin says those investigations often bring bladed weapons to light.
"As Dorset Police we're nationally recognised for really targeting that hard, so we may find that we actually detect more weapons because we're going out looking for them."