Ring of steel at Liverpool's Central Station

Oct 27 2007

MERSEYRAIL passengers were walking through metal detectors and emptying their pockets last night as a multi-agency force searched for knives and drugs at Central Station.

Representatives from British Transport Police (BTP), Merseyside Police and the Borders and Immigration Agency (BIA) were on the forecourt en masse from 6pm, armed with handheld scanners and sniffer dogs as part of Operation Shield, BTP’s national campaign to eradicate knife crime on the railway.

BTP Inspector Adrian Yorstan was co-ordinating the exercise, which ran until 11pm.

He said: “The aim of the operation is to target those carrying knives, but in addition we have drugs dogs to sniff out anyone carrying, or in possession of, controlled drugs.

“The dogs have a very active nose and can smell people who have taken drugs, even if it’s three days before.

“The dogs smelling drugs gives us the power to stop and search and go through the necessary legal requirements, but if nothing is found it would be inefficient to arrest them.”

By 7.15pm, one arrest had been made for disorderly behaviour and another for breach of bail conditions, while one man was dealt with for possession of cannabis.

This number had increased an hour later, as five street cautions were handed out for cannabis possession and a further three arrests were made: one for a public order offence, another on an outstanding warrant and lastly a juvenile, again for cannabis possession.

Friends John Searle and Simon Collins had travelled down from Southport for the Ian Brown concert and felt the police presence was “intrusive”.

John said: “I don’t really think it’s right, you should be able to go where you’re going and do what you’re doing.”

Simon added: “It’s intrusive, look how many of them there are.

“But I suppose at the end of the day, nobody’s going to stab me.”

Hertfordshire-born student James Smith, 25 said: “I think it’s all right, if I had anything to worry about it might be a worry but I suppose it’s for a good reason, even if it is a bit intrusive.”

A similar operation at Central in May this year saw ten people arrested and ten street cautions handed out for cannabis possession.

Of the arrests, one male was charged with possession of an offensive weapon – a flick-knife – and another faced a similar charge for possession of a knuckle-duster.