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Bus passengers searched during knife crime crackdown

Bus passengers were being scanned for deadly knives during a police operation in Oldbury.

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Police with the arch at Oldbury bus station

Officers were seen using metal detecting arches at Oldbury bus station yesterday.

It was placed in front of the bus doors so that every passenger was searched as they stepped off.

They also did searches on passengers using hand-held metal scanners.

Officers then did sweeps of the buses to find any dropped or concealed items.

They posted the images on Twitter, saying: "The team have been out in force at Oldbury bus station today with the knife arch.

"With our partners we scanned hundreds of passengers as they left the buses.

"Sweeps were also conducted on board for any dropped or concealed items. Making Oldbury a safer place."

This crackdown on knives in the Black Country comes after figures revealed that more than 100 pupils under the age of 18 were caught with a knife at a school in the West Midlands in 2017/18.

Between 2012 and 2018 there were 375 children caught with bladed weapons at schools across the region.

The highest number during this period was 111 in 2016/17, whereas last year saw 102.

In the six-year period Wolverhampton saw the most cases in the Black Country with 33, followed by Sandwell with 32, 31 in Walsall and then Dudley with 15.

Dudley was the lowest borough across the whole West Midlands region.

The offences were more common in 14-year-olds, with 80 cases, and there were also two eight-year-olds and five nine-year-olds caught.

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