NEWS DESK

New figures announced today by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, showed 1,214 people have been arrested during the Metropolitan Police’s crackdown on knife crime in the Capital, Operation Blunt 2.
 
Operation Blunt 2 was launched on May 15th 2008 to tackle the unacceptable levels of serious youth violence with knives being carried and used on London's streets.

Between (19th May - 29th June 2008) 1,214 people were arrested for possession of weapons and other knife-related crimes. A total of 26,777 searches were conducted and 528 knives recovered during that period. The majority of these knives were seized as a result of the greater use of officers’ search powers; while others were recovered in regular searches of public places where police had been told weapons are being stashed.

Boris Johnson said,

"Everybody is shocked by the level of violence we are seeing, particularly towards young people in London and we must all work as hard as we can together to reverse this dreadful trend.

“Operation Blunt 2 is an important part of the fight back against the terrible scourge of knife crime, with 1,214 arrests and 528 knives seized since it was launched just six weeks ago.

"This is only one area in which we are working to make our city safer, addressing the symptoms and the root causes of crime and violence. Deputy Mayor for Policing, Kit Malthouse, is working with the police to deploy even more handheld scanners and knife arches across London and to introduce new initiatives such as crime mapping. Ray Lewis, Deputy Mayor for Young People, is leading a huge drive to get kids off the streets and into activities which raise their aspirations and help turn their lives around.” 

Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the MPS said,
'The dreadful murder of Ben Kinsella shows that the problem of knife crime is still with us. I know the communities of London understand that this is something they and the police have to solve together and I promise that the Met is in this for the long haul and will do everything in its power to stop these murders continuing.'

Kit Malthouse said,
“It is clear that the police have been active and visible in the past 6 weeks but we will never be complacent. Tackling crime will take a long-term approach with a range of measures to address the root causes of violence as well as measures to deter and detect crime.

‘I have been working closely with the police to ensure Blunt 2 continues as a sustained visible long-term anti knife operation. We are also working on new measures to tackle crime and anti social behaviour over the summer months.”