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Eagle-eyed security staff seize dozens of knives at court buildings – and syringes make the list too

Court staff in Inverness were kept particularly busy in September this year, when they seized 37 blades and 12 knives in just 30 days.

Court staff across the north and north-east are on the look-out for knives.
Court staff across the north and north-east are on the look-out for knives.

Yobs brought blades to a Highland court building at a rate of more than once a day earlier this year, our investigation has found.

Many of Scotland’s court buildings have knife arches to ensure visitors aren’t taking banned items into hearings – and they are busier than ever.

Staff at Inverness Justice Centre were kept particularly busy in September this year when they seized 37 blades and 12 knives in just 30 days.

They also confiscated 27 alcohol containers, 10 tools and another unspecified item in the same month.

It means staff took possession of 87 items in the month – the highest ever for the court.

By comparison, they seized just 26 items in February 2024.

It was also a busy end to the summer for security staff at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

In the image below, you can use the dropdown menu to select your preferred court.

You can also hover over each bar on the chart for a breakdown of the data.

They seized 22 items – including six knives – in August compared with seven seizures last December.

Our investigation focused on the demanding roles of those security staff, who keep people safe at the region’s courts.

From ensuring people take off their baseball caps in court to throwing out troublemakers – they have to do it all.

85 knives seized this year

We focused on four busiest sheriff courts in the P&J area – Aberdeen, Inverness, Elgin and Peterhead.

Court staff seized 13 knives from people turning up at those four courts in 2022.

That figure rose to 85 in 2023 and to 109 in the period covering the first nine months of 2024.

In the image below, you can hover over the image below to see how many knives were seized each month.

But knives aren’t the only thing the eagle-eyed security staff are looking out for in their day-to-day role.

They were also tasked with confiscating seven other categories of objects.

The security scanners can pick up on drugs containers, needles, tools and bladed weapons that aren’t technically classified as knives.

Sometimes it is an innocent oversight.

A visitor might forget they have a work tool on them as they enter the court, for example.

Despite most of the court hearings starting at 10am, alcohol containers were the most commonly confiscated items.

Beer cans and spirit bottles were detected on 306 occasions at the four courts combined in the last five years, as well as 151 tools, 35 needles and 32 containers of drugs.

There were also 279 miscellaneous items picked up by the scanner.

They can include any object that the court staff judge to be potentially harmful, including soft drink cans and even dog leads.

The number of items confiscated varies dramatically from court to court.

Temporary scanners

Peterhead and Elgin sheriff courts don’t have permanent security scanners.

They are instead visited by mobile detectors, which explains why the numbers are so low.

However, the picture is much different at Aberdeen and Inverness sheriff courts

There were 41 knives seized at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in the first nine months of 2024 compared with 28 in 2023.

Perhaps the most striking figures could be found in Inverness, where the number of knives seized in the first nine months of 2024 was 78 compared with 69 in 2023.

So what could be the reasons for these rises?

Firstly, courts were mostly closed to the public in 2020 and large parts of 2021, so seizures were relatively low.

And even when things fully returned to normal, visitors were more likely to be on their best behaviour as procedures changed.

In the case of Inverness Justice Centre, the building only opened in March 2022 and the high-tech metal detectors might be uncovering items that other courts won’t.

Confiscation numbers tend to spike in summer as the number of court visitors is higher than in winter.

Police could get involved

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) said: “The SCTS takes the safety of all court users very seriously.

“These are public buildings and we work closely with partners, including the police, to take all reasonable precautions against prohibited items being introduced into court buildings.

“Any item which is considered to be prohibited or a potential risk to public safety could be confiscated on entering a court building.

Inverness Sheriff Court
Inverness Justice Centre. Image: DC Thomson

“The discovery of any weapon or potential weapon by staff is immediately reported to the police.

“Police officers are deployed in courts across Scotland and carry out a number of duties.

“The objective of police deployment within courts is to provide public reassurance, maintain public order and prevent intimidation.

“Security teams use a variety of measures to protect against potentially dangerous items being introduced into court buildings.

“Busier courts have a permanent security presence while others benefit from the presence of the mobile security team which attends on a rotational basis.

“Many recorded confiscations are domestic items or work tools which people bring to court but are inappropriate to take into a courtroom.”