POLICE have played down suggestions that a knife crime menace sweeping through UK cities is a major problem in Swindon.

It comes as cops across the country embark on a week-long campaign twinned with national anti-knife bid Operation Sceptre.

South Swindon sergeant David Tippetts said that his officers took knife crime “very seriously”.

But, compared to other towns and cities, the evidence did not point to Swindon suffering a high knife crime rate, he said.

According to the latest crime figures, the number of reports made to Wiltshire Police of people possessing of a weapon rose slightly from 270 in 2015/16 to 289 last year.

Operation Puma has been launched this month by Wiltshire Police with the aim of reducing the fear of knife crime.

Underage police cadets visited 49 stores across Swindon in a bid to buy knives, he said. Around seven shops sold youngsters the potentially life-threatening weapons – a “failure rate” of 14 per cent.

“This compares favourably with other areas in the UK, which have seen rates as high as 38 per cent,” Sgt Tippetts said.

“Follow-up work is being conducted with the seven stores to provide training and support with a further test purchase operation planned in the near future.”

As well as the knife sale operation, police officers had spent the day with local metal detectorists – hunting for knives stashed in Swindon parks.

Sgt Tippetts said: “No weapons or knives were located during the day which would suggest that there are not a large number of these items being secreted in the public domain.”

However, experienced sergeant said that Wiltshire Police would work with schools and other groups to educate those thinking of carrying knives about the dangers of handling the weapons.

He said: “With the availability of knives, it’s about making people – in particular young people – aware that carrying a knife, or using a knife in violent circumstances has enormous consequences.

“You might be carrying a knife as you are worried that someone is after you and you might want to protect yourself. But that is not the way to go about it.

"Carrying a knife and using it will not protect you from prosecution.”

Sgt Tippetts said that the biggest knife he had recovered was a 12-inch-long blade found in Penhill.

“It was a big hunting knife, buried to the hilt in the ground,” he said.

Earlier this month, police warned of a growing trend for big-city drug dealers to use local youngsters as drug pushers.

The children who become involved with the gangs are more likely to become the victims of crime themselves, with others robbing them for high-value drugs.

Police worry that these children feel compelled to carry weapons like knives and screwdrivers to defend themselves.

Sgt Georgina Green, of Wiltshire Police’s Dedicated Crime Team, said: “We’ve seized a number of weapons. I think that some of these children are in possession of knives for their own protection.”

To report information about anyone carrying or using knives, contact police on 101 or anonymously, via Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111. In an emergency call 999.