A knife arch popped up outside Willesden Junction a week ago (Thu) as part of the Met’s effort to show the measures being taken to tackle rising knife crime.

“In response to the community’s concerns about knife and violent crime we are holding a proactive operation,” said Insp Tracy Wilkins.

She and her team invited passers-by to walk through the arch and explained its purpose.

“We have this arch at our disposal and we move it from area to area,” she said.

Although the police can’t compel people to walk through the detector, they watch for changing behaviour and search those they see actively avoiding it.

“There are officers in the area who are looking to see if anybody’s acting differently and needs to be spoken to,” added Insp Wilkins.

“We deploy a number of tactics across Brent – but we can’t do it on our own, we need the community’s help. So if anyone knows of anyone carrying knives they need to let us know.”