A Powys County Council spokesman said today: “The Garrett Super Scanner, the world’s most respected and utilised hand-held scanner, will now be used by Dyfed-Powys Police to combat the carrying and use of knives and other offensive weapons.”

They can be used by officers on patrol and in conjunction with licensees to search people going into pubs and clubs.

The use of the scanner follows the recent five-week national knife amnesty to reduce knife crime.

In Powys, 218 domestic knives, 55 non-domestic knives and 66 weapons were handed in, including a nine-inch dart and potato peeler.

Police Constable Jackie Heighway, a crime prevention officer, said: “The amnesty was designed to take knives out of circulation, but it was also driving home the message that it’s not cool or a form of self defence to carry a knife.”

The amnesty was supported by the Powys Community Safety Partnership that had backed a trading standards and police test-purchasing exercise that discovered 13 out of 41 businesses sold knives illegally to under-age children.

Louise Kerr, Powys community safety officer, said: “The violent crime action group is taking forward a number of interventions on behalf of the partnership to tackle violent crime in Powys.”

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