SIXTEEN knives have so been surrendered at Wells Police Station during the Operation Sceptre knife amnesty.

They range from a large sword and a machete to small throwing knives.

The knife amnesty is part of a national initiative to tackle knife crime, and a knife surrender bin will remain in place at the police station until the amnesty ends on July 31.

"It has been a success and this makes the streets safer for all of us," said PC Darren Pearson.

"I would encourage parents to talk to their children and ask them if they do carry knives to hand them in to the police station."

The amnesty comes during a period of uncertainty for Wells police with the police station likely to be relocated to the fire station site.

The police have also faced an increase in criminal activity in the city. The latest figures reveal that reported crimes rose from 91 in April to 139 in May. There were 92 reported crimes in March, and just 58 in February.

The May figures show a marked increase in the categories of anti-social behaviour (up from 33 in April to 40 in May), criminal damage and arson (up from 6 to 20), shoplifting (up from 4 to 19), and violence and sexual offences (up from 21 to 29).

Mendip neighbourhood inspector Mark Nicholson said: "There was a temporary blip on our crime figures earlier in the year which was down to a series of anti-social behaviour-related incidents. A group of several people were responsible for the problems. These people have been dealt with or are in the process of being dealt with.

"Looking forward, we have been working more closely with agency partners in an effort to prevent a repeat of similar incidents.

"We do rely on the public to work with us, be our 'eyes and ears' and report anti-social behaviour so that it can be dealt with. However, we do prefer to deal with such matters at source and prevent such incidents from happening."