A total of 42 people, including six from Warrington, were arrested and 48 knives seized during a week of action tackling knife crime across Cheshire.
Fifteen knife sweeps were conducted in the town and nearly 200 knives, including bayonets, machetes and military knives, were handed in to surrender bins.
Six Knife Crime Warning Notices were issued and 40 people were stopped and searched.
This led to six people being arrested and two men being charged with possession with intent to supply cannabis following the seizure of a large quantity of the class B drug.
Two people were arrested following stop and search operations involving knife arches and a drugs dog at Warrington Central and Warrington West railway stations, which were conducted in collaboration with British Transport Police.
The amount of Bleeding Control Kits distributed across the town was taken past the 40 mark.
The easing of Covid-19 restrictions enabled officers in Cheshire to step up their already considerable efforts to take knives off the streets as part of a national campaign.
Operation Sceptre was devised to reduce the impact of knife crime in communities throughout England and Wales.
During the latest week of action, which started on Monday 26 April, officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Cheshire did all that they could to identify and pursue suspected knife crime offenders, take dangerous weapons off the streets and educate people about the dangers of carrying such weapons.
Adhering to the regulations in place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Cheshire officers and PCSOs:
*Arrested 42 people
*Seized 48 knives, and collected another 226 weapons via 15 surrender bins situated across Cheshire
*Conducted 56 weapons sweeps
*Stopped and searched 156 people
*Executed nine warrants in relation to knife crime
*Communicated with 175 schools regarding important knife crime messages for pupils, many of which were visited in person to talk to young people about the potentially fatal consequences of carrying weapons
*Went to 14 homes to hand out Knife Crime Warning Notices to people believed to be habitual knife carriers
*Visited 46 retailers that sell knives to give product placement advice and ensure that age-restricted sales policies are being followed (it is illegal to sell a knife to anyone under the age of 18)
*Utilised pop-up police stations at seven knife crime hotspot areas to enable people with any concerns to speak in confidence with officers
*Conducted television and radio interviews and wrote social media posts to give important knife crime messages to members of the public.
In addition, Bleeding Control Kits were given to a wide range of community venues across the county, including at police stations, shops and shopping centres, theatres, pubs, recreation centres, sports clubs, cafés, parks, railway stations and community centres.
The kits contain equipment and instructions that enable members of the public to prevent knife crime victims from bleeding to death.
There are now more than 200 of these life-saving kits located at community venues in Cheshire.
Chief Inspector Sarah Heath, who is Cheshire Constabulary’s knife crime lead, said: “Nationally, knife crime is a growing problem, and the week-long Operation Sceptre campaign is an initiative that the force is always more than happy to support.
“We were severely restricted in terms of the work we could do during last year’s two weeks of action for Operation Sceptre, with them having fallen when the country was in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“With us now out of lockdown and certain restrictions having eased, there were more engagement and enforcement options available to us during the latest week of action.
“We grasped these with both hands to tackle knife crime across Cheshire.”
