Community police officers have been visiting schools in Huntingdon to warn youngsters about the potential dangers of gangs and knife crime.

Officers from the Local Policing Team have talked to pupils at Hartford Junior School about personal safety as part of a week-long operation called What’sThe Point.

They also conducted a “high visibility” patrol in Godmanchester and visited Thongsley Primary School and Hinchingbrooke School.

Targeted patrols are also being carried out by plain-clothes officers across the Huntingdonshire patch with the aim of focussing and engaging with youngsters who officers believe could be at risk of becoming involved in knife crime.

There is also a knife amnesty bin in place at Huntingdon Police Station to enable people to hand in knives and other weapons and remain free from prosecution.

“Whilst the officers will be focusing on offences relating to knife and violent crime, they will also be proactively on the look out for offences such as burglary and theft from motor vehicles and the individuals suspected to be responsible for these crimes,” according to information released by the Local Policin Team.

“Officers can only carry out effective intelligence-led and targeted patrols if we continue to receive information from the public.”

The latest Home Office figures show a 16 per cent increase in knife crime, which presents a seven-year high in 2018. There were 134 knife crimes in London in 2018 and two people were stabbed in the capital in the first six hours of 2019.

INFO: If you would like to talk to someone about knife or other crimes, call: 101 or visit: www.cambs.police.uk/report. Alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on: 0800 555 111.