Police officers in Swindon have been given extra powers after three people were stabbed.
Two people turned up at Great Western Hospital with knife wounds following a disorder in Moredon Road at around 1.30pm on Sunday afternoon (18 June).
Then, at around 4.30pm, a man was attacked with a knife inside his own home in Thornford Drive, Westlea.
Whilst the suspects remain outstanding following the Moredon disorder, a man has been arrested in connection with the Westlea incident and remains in custody.
He’s being held on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, robbery and possession of an offensive weapon.
Wiltshire Police has since put in place two Section 60 and Section 60AA orders, which last 24 hours and give officers greater powers to stop and search individuals. They’ll expire at 6pm today (Monday).
The Section 60 Order allows police officers to stop and search anyone within the designated area without needing to have reasonable grounds – and the 60AA order further extends these powers to allow officers to require them to remove face coverings which might obscure their identification.
Superintendent Liz Coles said: “The orders have been put in place in response to a number of quite serious incidents in the Swindon area today; these include two assaults in which weapons were used, which will understandably have sparked community concern.
“We hope that the public will be assured that we are taking this proportional but robust action in order to support our front line officers in maintaining public safety and proactively tackling potential disorder.”
The order covers approximately half of Swindon, including Westlea, Kingshill, the town centre, Gorse Hill, Pinehurst, Penhill, Haydon Wick, Moredon, Oakhurst, Tadpole Garden Village.
