POLICE officers were out in force at Bluewater and town centres in a two-day operation to cut down on knife and drug crime.

On February 19 Kent police officers flooded Dartford town centre in the evening to carry out searches for knives and drugs, and they did the same in Gravesend on February 12.

During the day on both dates officers set up a metal detector at the bus station at Bluewater shopping centre to scan people for knives, but nobody was arrested.

Sergeant Tim Ryton, who led the operation on the ground, said: “The two days we spent on this operations have been of huge benefit to north Kent.

“We have been out there talking to people who live here and dealing with the very small number of people who we found to be offending.

“The results support crime figures which show that north Kent has a very low level of knife and violent crime.”

In Gravesend on February 12, six people were arrested for possessing drugs, three for being drunk and disorderly, one for drink driving, and six vehicles were seized for a number of different offences.

In Dartford on February 19, three people were arrested for possessing drugs, four for being drunk and disorderly, and four for public order offences.

There were also single arrests for theft, criminal damage, and drink driving, and two vehicles were seized as the drivers were not insured to drive them.

Officers were joined in Dartford town centre by Colin and Sally Knox, the parents of Rob Knox, who was stabbed to death outside a bar in Sidcup in May 2008.

Mr Knox said: “We were invited by the police to come out and see first-hand an operation to directly address knife and violent crime.

“It’s great to see so much being done to deter youngsters, reassure people that it’s safe here and to find people who may be thinking of committing this kind of crime.”