Schools launch blitz on knives
HAND-held scanners are to be used by schools in Sandwell to crack down on children carrying knives, it was announced today.
The metal detectors will be used by staff in secondary schools for random spot checks or if a pupil is believed to have a weapon.
Police hope the move will raise awareness of the implications of carrying a knife and deter pupils from even thinking about having a blade.
The announcement comes as two children were being hunted today for the brutal stabbing of a father-of-two in Wednesbury. The teenage offenders, aged 15 or 16, escaped on push-along micro-scooters after stabbing 40-year-old have-a-go hero Dipak Patel in the chest.
He chased the pair after catching them slashing a neighbour’s car tyres in Franchise Street, Wednesbury just before 9pm on Wednesday.
One of the fold-up scooters was left behind at the scene and is now being examined by forensics experts.
Mr Patel, who is recovering in hospital from a punctured lung, chased the children into nearby School Street where he was knifed three times.
Shocked and bleeding heavily he made his way back to Franchise Street to raise the alarm with his sister-in-law.
A police spokesman said: “The offenders are both white, aged 15-to-16 years old. One of the offenders was wearing a baseball cap and had a distinctive large nose.”
Anyone with information should contact Bloxwich CID on 0845 113 5000.
The knife scanners were being put through their paces in a demonstration at Wodensborough Community Technology College in Wednesbury today.
But officers were keen to point out the scanners, which are partly-funded by police, are not being used in response to any issues of knife crime at Sandwell schools, but as a preventative and reassurance measure.
Officers have also been providing education packs on knife crime such as Tooled up 4 School.
