POLICE found needles, a screwdriver, a hammer and pairs of scissors in a series of searches for knives in Southampton parks.

Officers carried out a knife sweep across city centre parks and near nightclubs on Thursday night.

They found and seized a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, and a large number of needles.

It comes after a spate of incidents across the city, including a number of stabbings.

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The areas covered included West Park, East Park, and around the core nightclubs in Vernon Walk and Bedford Place before expanding out to cover some of the other side of London Road, Grovesnor Square and the Kingsland Estate.

Speaking on Thursday night, Sergeant Jabr Shaladan, from the Bargate Neighbourhood Team, told the Daily Echo: "Today we are doing a knife sweep involving some of the police cadets and special constables.

"We are doing a sweep of parks and some of the area a bit further up.

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"We do retrieve some items, we found a hammer earlier on today.

"Various items are retrieved from (knife sweeps) so they can be quite successful.

"Obviously there is public reassurance, so (knife sweeps) are also quite positive in that respect.

"We try and do this as often as we can."

Officers engaged with members of the public about what was going on throughout the evening.

They said crimes involving an offensive weapon are a priority for the force.

Sgt Shaladan said sweeps for knives are carried out to locate offensive weapons that might have been hidden.

He said offenders will often hide items such as knives, metal bars, and hammers so as to not carry weapons on them in case of a stop and search.

The searches come after a stabbing on April 10 in Above Bar Street at around 4am - with police treating the case as attempted murder. Three people were injured.

A 21-year-old man from London had been found with stab wounds to his abdomen and hand and was taken to hospital with potentially life-changing injuries.

Another incident on March 14 saw a 19-year-old man taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries following a stabbing in Ascupart Street. 

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