Metal detectors in stations as part of week of action to tackle knife crime in Leeds and West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire Police is joining police forces across the country for the week-long Sceptre campaign to reduce offending involving bladed weapons and educate people about the dangers of taking them onto our streets.

Sceptre will run throughout this week and will see officers from the Force’s specialist Operation Jemlock violent crime reduction team join colleagues across West Yorkshire in a wide range of activities.

These include targeting those wanted for weapons offending, including possession of and the illegal purchase and sale of banned bladed weapons, and conducting high visibility patrols in areas designated as ‘hot spots’ for knife crime.

Uniformed police will also attend bus stations and interchanges with awareness stalls and in some cases knife arches - a type of metal detector - in order to reassure travellers.

Elsewhere, Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be delivering engagement and crime prevention work such as knife sweeps in areas where criminals have in the past hidden bladed items.

Chief Inspector John-Paul Berriff, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Jemlock said: “Our second Sceptre week of action of 2025 builds on a substantial amount of work already ongoing across the force, including the seizure of over 520 dangerous weapons so far in 2025 with over 1770 arrests made just by Jemlock officers.

“The week of action will see officers from across West Yorkshire join colleagues nationally in enhancing our focus on all aspects of crime related to bladed weapons, including the use, carrying and sale of these weapons.

“Reassurance and crime prevention will continue to form a substantial focus of the week, with officers again deploying in train and bus stations with specialist search equipment, and conducting patrols and knife sweeps.

“Neighbourhood policing colleagues will be attending educational premises across the Force to deliver education to young people about the real dangers of carrying knives and the consequences of doing so.

“Education continues to be a priority despite tens of thousands of children already being reached through the Violence Reduction Partnership, we need to do all we can to keep driving home the message about the dangers of carrying knives.

"As the week of action gets underway, I would encourage anyone who has information about persons involved in knife crime, carrying or illegally selling weapons to contact us or the independent Crimestoppers charity. We need your help to get these weapons off our streets and make it socially unacceptable to carry them.”

Police operations to reduce knife offending are supported by partners, including the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP), which is delivered by the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin. Established in 2019, it provides key interventions across communities to reduce and prevent violent offending.

West Yorkshire’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe OBE said: “This is a vital part of our collective ambitions to halve knife crime over the next decade.

“By aligning our preventive approach with the enforcement work of the police, we can effectively change attitudes and behaviours.

“This dedicated week offers just a snapshot of the ongoing partnership work taking place day in day out, to make West Yorkshire safe, just and inclusive.”