Around two dozen cops are being briefed ahead of a job. They don't need motivation, but a timely reminder of the importance of the operation is offered.
The names of young men killed by knives fresh in their minds, they hit the streets. Some say there's a 'pandemic' in our region.
While knife crime incidents fell 4 per cent in the 12 months to January 2023, it remains a scourge. The devastation wreaked on families is clear.
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It remains a priority for Greater Manchester Police. The Manchester Evening News was invited to join the latest operation as part of a collaboration between cops on Operation Xcalibre - which tackles serious crime in south Manchester - and Operation Venture, an initiative launched in December to tackle knife crime and violence.
Officers patrolled hotspot areas in south Manchester and Trafford in a bid to detect and deter. It led to four arrests and one knife being taken off the streets.
But the operation was about more than that.
"Knife crime is not something the police can arrest their way out of," Inspector John Ezard told the M.E.N. "We need the community, we need the media, mums and dads to have conversations with kids about not carrying weapons, walking away when there is conflict with people on the streets, on parks.
"Statistically you're more likely to be injured by a knife if you carry one. We hear a lot of the time 'it's for my protection', but the statistics tell us that by carrying a knife, you're more likely to have your own knife used on you.
"It escalates matters and it can ruin multiple lives around you, so it's about making it such a taboo subject, a bit like drink-driving. I'd like to think that in this day and age, in a pub there'd be numerous people stopping you, trying to take the keys out of your hand, and we need the same approach with weapons."
The M.E.N. hit the road with PCs Ainsley John and Ben Cartledge.
Officers used data to focus on specific areas where knife crime has been an issue. The operation focused on parts of Hulme, Rusholme, Old Trafford and Moss Side.
Police were keen to use the high-visibility operation to engage with members of the public - including some who appeared in vulnerable positions, and some who raised ' suspsicion. The first stop for PCs John and Cartledge was for two women at the corner of a street in Hulme.
The pair were hostile to the officers at first, but one of the two ended up sharing a joke. Back on the road, the officers kept an eye out - at one point warning a driver whose children were hanging out the window without seatbelts on, before speaking to a young driver whose Fiat Punto did not have a licence plate properly displayed.
Other cars which triggered alerts on the GMP database were stopped by the officers for checks, and teams shared information and intelligence via radio. Several officers pointed out a group of teenage boys seen on bikes travelling across Hulme who were known to police. PC John spoke to the pair.
"It's just what I'm here to do," he said. "We're here to serve the public at the end of the day, it's engaging with people.
"It's a chat to show our face to the public, remind them that we're human as well. People might have previous bad experience with the police for whatever reason, or they might have been arrested for something in a different chapter of their life.
"But it's about speaking to them, having a positive interaction with people and then through chatting to people you learn about them... winning hearts and minds."
Back on the road, PCs John and Cartledge receive a call about a teenager carrying a lock knife following a search.
GMP says he was one of five males seen behaving suspiciously on Greenheys Lane. The group dispersed after officers approached, before police detained the 14-year-old boy, who had a lock knife.
PCs Cartledge and John checked on man in a tent and stopped a speeding Audi, before breaking for tea. When they return to the road, they chatted to three teenagers on the corner of a street.
They have no reason to cause police concern, but one tells the officer he was recently attacked. PC John said: "No one wants their child going out either being in possession or being at risk of harm.
"The general thoughts and feeling is that people want us to do it a bit more, use our powers to stop and search, because at the end of the day it's about preventing young people from stabbing each other and killing each other. It has massive ramifications on the victim's lives, because they have lost a loved one, but also the offender's lives.
"But there's a culture of knife crime at the minute where everyone thinks everyone is in possession, so I'll go out with one. It's about letting people understand there's a consequence for that.
"Say for example I spoke to those three lads, there weren't grounds to stop search them and they were open and honest with me, but if they ever got into a position where they felt that they needed to go out with a knife, it would make them think twice about doing so."
Continuing through south Manchester, officers stop a Mercedes A-Class near Alexandra Park. It is searched for drugs, before cops attempt to track down two lads who have fled on bikes in Moss Side - leading to a stop search by other members of the team. As PCs Cartledge and John continue through the area, they spot a man wearing a balaclava in a corner shop.
PC Cartledge said: "It's not necessarily normal, it's quite warm tonight. I stopped to have a chat with him, there was quite a strong smell of cannabis, he was also in possession of three mobile phones - which doesn't have to, but can suggest dealing drugs.
"I've spoken to him a bit more, he's very nervous, quite shaky and just wanting to leave. He's been detained for a search under section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act and whilst searching and checking him he's told us he's got bail conditions not to be in Greater Manchester. He was subsequently arrested for breaching his court order."
The 26-year-old was the second of the four arrests made on the night. The final two came after a car was driven away from officers at 9.30pm, and was later involved in a collision on Wythenshawe Road, in Sale, with a man running off.
A 23-year-old man and 31-year-old woman were later arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving; and aggravated taking without owner's consent. Along with five positive stop searches for drugs, and one for the lock knife, officers were pleased with the results.
Since December, Operation Venture has made more than 90 arrests, more than 100 positive stop searches and seized almost 40 weapons. Insp Ezard says the results are 'really positive' and the operation is becoming 'known in the community'.
PC Cartledge said: "It's quite new in GMP, it's not something we've had really - a force-wide, proactive team tackling this sort of thing. We've recovered quite a lot of weapons off the streets, dealt with an incident where there was an attempted robbery with a knife at the time.
"I think at the moment we're doing quite well, taking a lot of weapons off the street. As a police officer you just engage people, try to talk to them, but the challenges are that people don't necessarily want to speak to the police.
"We're not just out there to search everyone, we're just speaking to people and trying to give that visible presence. They're not going to get searched unless the grounds are there.
"People think we're just there to cause them issues, but we'll take on a safeguarding approach if required as well. A lot of the people we're dealing with are kids. A lot of people think we're just out there to get them when really we're there to help."
With GMP using data to carry out the operation in areas known to have had previous issues, officers know there can be challenges in engaging with some of the region's communities. PC John said: "Historically, obviously, there's a racial element to it - but we're here to break the divide.
"We go to all different specific areas, we're not targeting a specific area. It's about interacting with people and trying to turn that page, break down a lot of barriers that are there."
PC John admits stop and search can be 'controversial'. Last October, figures revealed black people were nearly four times as likely to be stopped and searched across the region than white people, while Asian people were 1.7 times more likely.
"There's a lot of stigma, and rightly so," said PC John. "I'm happy to take all the criticism, because it is controversial to an extent, stop and search, with the racial element and the profiling.
"But at the end of the day our results are showing we're getting positive results, we're engaging with the people that are going out with weapons. Everyone we stop search, I say they're more than welcome to keep a record.
"All stop searches are meant to be bodycammed unless it's a covert operation, and if they want to complain we're very transparent, we're very open and I would encourage everyone to do so if they feel strongly enough." Thursday's work in south Manchester was followed by a similar event for Operation Venture in Oldham on Friday, before an event takes place in Wigan on Saturday.
Both Venture and Xcalibre will continue their work day after day. It might be a long road to tackling the scourge of knife crime in our region, but officers seem determined to make a positive difference however they can.
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