The police body representing rank-and-file officers has called for more search powers to combat young people carrying knives.

Figures released earlier this year show 145 youngsters were found to be carrying knives during police searches between April 1 last year and March 31 of this year.

In the 2024 calendar year, knives were found in 91 searches.

David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), has pushed for more powers to combat youth knife crime.

“Every one of these incidents is a knife being removed from the streets and potentially a life saved,” he told 1919 Magazine.

“Officers need to be supported in this work, and as it stands there are too many obstacles when an officer reasonably suspects someone may be carrying a weapon.

“As we’ve seen from recent cases, knife crime is a real problem in Scotland.

“Frontline officers are the last line of defence on this and must be given more to continue the work.”

The call comes after the conviction of three teenagers for the killing of 16-year-old Kayden Moy, who was stabbed at Irvine beach, North Ayrshire, last year.

Among those found to have been carrying a blade was two 11-year-old boys in separate incidents.

Justice Secretary Neil Gray said: “There is no reason to ever carry a weapon, at any time.

“The Scottish Government fully supports Police Scotland to take appropriate and proportionate action to safeguard public safety.

“Stop and search is a valuable tool in combating crime and keeping people safe.

“We continue to work with partners to tackle and prevent youth violence, and in particular knife crime, alongside education, diversion and mentoring programmes.

“This is supported by our investment of more than £8 million since 2023 in targeted prevention and early intervention activity in schools, hospitals and across communities to tackle violence and its harms.

“We are also investing record funding of more than £1.7 billion for policing in 2026/27 and Scotland continues to have more police officers per head of population than England and Wales.”

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Stephen Kerr said the Scottish Government’s policies had “weakened deterrence”.

“Following the tragic loss of young lives to knife crime, ministers should be doing everything possible to educate young people about the devastating consequences of carrying a blade and to get deadly weapons off our streets,” he said.

“Instead, the SNP has presided over a loss of deterrence and a justice system that too often appears to put offenders before victims.”

Assistant chief constable Wendy Middleton said: “Intelligence-led stop and search is a valuable and effective policing tactic that helps us keep people safe in many different ways.

“This tactic must be used lawfully, proportionately and in line with the code of practice, introduced in 2017, for which we have a high compliance rate.

“The code has a dedicated section for children and provides guidance for officers when making a decision to stop and search a child using the appropriate statutory power.

“All searches carried out are subject to governance and review in line with scrutiny arrangements to confirm they comply with the code of practice being lawful, necessary and proportionate.

“We recognise that stopping and searching people is a significant intrusion into their personal liberty and privacy, and we remain committed to ensuring that people are treated with fairness, integrity and respect.”