WATCH: Hallam joins police as knife crime crackdown continues in Sheffield

Two weeks after six people were stabbed in Sheffield city centre over one weekend, police have told us they're trying to change mindsets to get knives off the streets.

Two people were arrested this weekend for carrying a blade - and six for other offences.

Hallam had special access to the policing operation on Friday night..

A fortnight ago, three separate incidents saw six people stabbed in the city centre over one weekend.

Last weekend officers we using a knife arch to tackle the problem and used special stop and search powers.

16 people were arrested and 2 knives seized.

Superintendent Una Jennings told us they're stepping up their efforts to crack down on it:

"Unsurprisingly, a huge amount of domestic knives are the sort of knives that we're recovering, You can go into your kitchen any day of the week and there are a number of lethal weapons available which is why I'm really appealing to parents, teachers, soccer coaches, people with influence to really start having this kind of conversation with our young men. We know, because we're seeing it on our streets, that knife-related criminality can have real consequences.

"A huge part of what we're doing on the streets tonight is just getting involved in conversation with people, where appropriate of course exercising our powers to stop and search people but generally have a conversation because for us it's about changing mindsets in relation to knife-related criminality. We really want people to think about the consequences of carrying weapons."

Knife crime has gone up in South Yorkshire - and across the country this year.

Officers have told us there's often more trouble in Sheffield after payday, when the weather's good, and when venues have got specific music nights on that can draw the wrong sort of crowds.

This weekend was a relatively quiet one - but Acting Inspector Richard Sedgwick says they're doing everything they can to avoid a repeat of two weeks ago:

"With what happened a couple of weeks ago with the serious assaults, that's extremely resourse-intensive because obviously you've got numerous scenes, injured parties. We ultimately need a lot more cops than we've got at the minute to try and cover that. If we don't stem it in the first place we've got to pick up the pieces after.

"It's throughout the week, it's the meetings we have with licensees and everybody else who's involved because ultimately everyone's got a joint responsibility to make sure everyone has a good night and a safe night - but also the premises have got a duty of care themselves."

Two people were arrested for carrying a knife over the weekend - and six for other offences. Police also issued four dispersal notices.

• knives
• knife crime
• Stabbing
• sheffield
• South Yorkshire