Police carry out sweeps in Newbury's parks as part of #OpSceptre - a national campaign against knife crime

Thames Valley Police say you may be stopped and searched

The Thames Valley Police Neighbourhood teams carried out sweeps of local parks in Newbury yesterday, Wednesday, November 11, to check for any discarded knives as part of Op Sceptre.

The picture above shows the Newbury NHPT in Victoria park.

TVP West Berkshire tweeted the picture and one Newbury resident, Chris Burch, added this reminder to the public: 'But worth mentioning that for anyone else, metal detecting is against the byelaws on @NewburyTC land'

Operation Sceptre was launched in July 2015 by The Metropolitan Police Service with the aim of reducing knife crime and the number of families affected across the whole of London. The launch coincided with new legislation that meant those convicted of carrying a knife for the second time will face a mandatory custodial sentence.

There have been several Op Sceptre weeks of action in an attempt to counter a nationwide rise in knife crime. February 2018 saw all police forces come together in the first national response to Op Sceptre. Keeping national momentum, police forces across the country have adopted local strategies to tackle the threat of knife related issues.

During the week-long initiative TVP has also had its 'Knife arch' in action at various stations in the area, including Pangbourne and Tilehurst, and have carried out sweeps of parks in Tilehust & Burghfield.

During the week long campaign you may be stopped and searched by TVP. They posted this reminder about the stop and search laws that are in place to protect you and others.

Here are some top things to remember:
• You will not get a criminal record from being stopped and searched
• Police officers must have reasonable grounds to search you
• If police officers do not find anything you will be allowed to go