Officers from Northamptonshire police were on the school site on Friday 19^th January 2024 with a knife arch, along with a representative from K9 deployment with a drug detection dog.

This joint initiative was designed to promote community safety and raise awareness of prohibited items, as detailed within Academy policies.

Launched back in May 2023, Northamptonshire Police joined the proactive countrywide campaign called ‘Operation Sceptre’. The campaign includes engagement with people in

local communities, hotspot patrols, weapons sweeps, use of the knife arch and

knife amnesties.

PC Steve Galloway & PC Josh Tyers delivered assembly content to year 11 students, detailing some of their first-hand experiences of working on the front-line responding to reported incidents of knife crime. They answered questions posed by students and staff. Some standout facts to highlight:

• The criminal age of responsibility in the UK is 10 yearsold
• It has been proven that if you carry a knife, you are more likely to be hurt or threatened by someone else. People are often wounded by their own knife they were carrying, putting them at greater risk

The police were unfortunately called to an actual incident, so SLT delivered the first part of assemblies to remaining year groups and, as assemblies drew to a close, Lester Staples from K9 Deployment and his drug detection dog Denzel (a springer spaniel) made a surprise appearance.

K9 Deployment work nationwide, as an external support service to the police, offering specialist sniffer dog services to detect the presence of drugs and tobacco.

Drug use poses significant dangers to individuals and communities, leading to devastating health consequences, social disruption, and a rise in county lines crime rates. County lines is where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries (although not exclusively), usually by children or vulnerable people who are coerced into it by gangs. The ‘County Line’ is the mobile phone line used to take the orders of drugs. Importing areas (areas where the drugs are taken to) are reporting increased levels of violence and weapons-related crimes as a result of this trend.

Drug detection dogs – or sniffer dogs - are vital in the fight against county lines operations and the criminal activity that comes with the sale of drugs. Their incredible sense of smell, enables them to detect a wide range of substances and makes them valuable assets in enhancing security measures and ensuring the safety and well-being of individuals at sites such as sports events, festivals, gigs etc.

Lester provided insight into how long it takes to train a fully operational detection dog, the differences between passive and proactive searches and then conducted live searches as demonstrations to students (please rest assured, scent discs were used throughout).

Miss G Keenes, Vice Principal, said:

At Guilsborough Academy one of our core values is ‘take responsibility for our actions’. Partnering with Northamptonshire Police and K9 Deployment encompasses everything we are trying to achieve, as our number one priority is the safety and wellbeing of our students. We thank both Northamptonshire Police and K9 Deployment for their support, as well as the students for their exceptional behaviour and maturity today. We encourage parents/carers to continue these discussions at home, so that we are all working in unity.

Please find below some useful references for more information and support.

https://crimestoppers-uk.org/fearless/more-info/crime-types-explained/knife-crime

https://www.northants.police.uk/news/northants/news/news/2023/may/northamptonshire-police-joins-national-knife-crime-campaign

https://www.k9deployment.co.uk/services/sniffer-dogs