16 Wiltshire shops fail knife sale tests
The tests were part of Sceptre - the national knife crime awareness scheme
1\6 shops across Wiltshire have failed test purchases of children attempting to buy knives.
The tests were made as part of Sceptre - the national knife crime awareness scheme - with 13 arrests also being made.
3\9 shops were visited across the county - including Salisbury - with 23 passing the test.
Police cadets - who are under 18 - entered the stores attempting to buy a bladed article.
The test is failed when an illegal purchase is made or the seller fails to ask for proof of age as part of the challenge 25 policy.
The stores that failed were given verbal warnings and advice on improvements.
1\3 arrests were made when officers carried out a stop and search, with four knives during that process.
4\1 stop and searches were made across the week of action.
Another 13 knives were recovered from surrender bins in the county.
Officers also visited 17 schools to provide educational talks on knife crime.
Chief Superintendent Doug Downing said: "I am pleased that the latest test purchase operation, using our excellent police cadets and working with our Trading Standards partners, shows the majority of outlets adhere to the law and so passed the test. However, that doesn't excuse the ones who failed. These stores were given oral warnings or words of advice.
"Sceptre is always a great opportunity to let the public know about the work - day-in, day-out - we do highlighting the dangers linked to knife crime. During the week there has been lots of work done by us and our partners - from recovering knives during some stop and searches and making arrests to engaging with students educating them about knife crime.
"We must remember that Wiltshire is a safe county but we all have a role to play in ensuring knife crime is tackled across our communities."
Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: "Sceptre takes broad and comprehensive approach to tackling knife crime, and the amount of proactive work undertaken by Wiltshire Police across the week has led to some good results, especially around educating and protecting young people through school visits and the cadets’ test purchasing.
"It's important that we work to dispel the perception around knife crime amongst young people, as a 2023 schools survey demonstrated that only 3% of young people admitted to having carried a knife. However, most young people estimated that around 19% of their peers carried a knife, demonstrating the significant difference between the perceived threat of youth knife carriers versus the reality perpetuating a culture of fear amongst young people.
"The Spot the Signs campaign which is currently being run jointly by my office and the force aims to tackle these misconceptions, as well as educating young people on how they can recognise and report their concerns around criminal exploitation. The more we can educate young people, the less likely they are to engage in this kind of criminal activity in the future."
The Sceptre week is part of our on-going, month-long, 'Spot the Signs' child criminal exploitation campaign which raises awareness of the signs of exploitation.