Police search college students for weapons

🚨 Watford Safer Neighbourhood Team officers conducted a crime prevention operation in partnership with West Herts College yesterday, as part of their ongoing work to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime and to keep the streets of Watford as safe as possible.

Officers were at the college from 7.30am until 11.30am on Wednesday morning, using metal-detector knife arches to search hundreds of students.

No weapons were found. A 19 year old male was found in possession of Class B drugs and was arrested on suspicion of intent to supply .

👮 Safer Neighbourhood Team Sergeant Matt Langley, who led the operation, said: “Thankfully, this was a very successful operation in that no weapons were found. Although we do not have a specific problem in Watford linked to possession of weapons, we have been taking preventative action to monitor any emerging issues and respond accordingly.

“As such, we have conducted regular high visibility and covert patrols, as well as proactive knife sweeps, working in partnership with both the council and local schools and colleges.

“We are committed to ensuring that Watford is a safe place to live and work, and we hope that this proactive activity – along with our regular countywide knife amnesties under Operation Sceptre – reassures the public that we are determined to get weapons off our streets.”

‼️ Hertfordshire Constabulary‘s Gangs and Schools team regularly live stream events for young people online, to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime and gang involvement. You can view these on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/hertspolice.

Young people can report information about knife crime anonymously on the Fearless website at https://orlo.uk/nNMre, and adults can do the same via the Crimestoppers website at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.