A SECTION 60 order that was put in place in Reading has now been lifted.

The order was put in place following an incident in Coley Avenue, Reading, on Saturday (September 19) where a 44-year-old man was stabbed, suffering serious injuries.

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The order was in place from 5.30pm on Monday (September 21) and ceased yesterday (September 24) at 5.30pm.

Under the Public Order Act, the Section 60 order temporarily allowed officers greater powers to stop and search people for items connected with violence, in a defined location.

Local Policing Area Commander for Reading, Superintendent Nick John, said: “Enacting Section 60 is just one method that we use to ensure weapons are kept off our streets.

“While the Section 60 was in place, a number of searches were conducted, and although no weapons were located, two people were arrested for drugs offences and a number of other warnings were issued for possession of drugs.

“This included a number of adult restorative justice disposals, (street cautions), relating to drugs possession.

“It is pleasing to see that our high visibility presence had the desired effect of deterring people from carrying weapons, and I hope that our actions have offered some reassurance to the people of Reading.

"Although the Section 60 has now ceased, I would warn anybody who feels it necessary to carry weapons that our officers will still be able to apply their ordinary stop and search powers, requiring police officers to have reasonable grounds to carry out a search where they think someone may be in possession of a weapon, controlled drugs or a tool that could be used to commit crime.

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"The situation in Reading will be closely monitored and if the grounds exist, a new Section 60 can be instigated and there will continue to be an increased police presence in the town in order to provide further reassurance.

“We will keep this under constant review over the coming days.

“I would like to offer my thanks to all the residents of Reading that were affected by this order and assure them that we will continue to listen to local concerns and act accordingly to keep our communities safe.

“Reading is, and remains a safe place in which to live and work, and it is representative of the people of the town that support the measures we have had in place. For that, we would like to thank you all.

“With regards to the original incident in Coley Avenue, I would again appeal to anybody with any information to please get in touch with police, or speak to any of our officers out on patrol.”