Police patrols were conducted in Southall and Northolt this weekend in response to information from the public about knife crime and suspected firearms.

As part of Operation Livingstone, Special Constables - officers in the Met's volunteer police force - were deployed in Ealing overnight on Saturday (October 8) with their PC Coordinator to investigate calls about knife related crime and suspected firearms.

An initiative announced in February this year, Operation Livingstone uses targeted intelligence to combat violent crime across Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon.

Working alongside the Met's West Area Gangs Unit, Special Constables on Saturday were called out to knife related crime and searched men for suspected firearms in response to a call from the public.

A spokesperson for the Special Constabulary wrote on Twitter that officers were "deployed on #OpLivingstone overnight with their PC Coordinator. Patrols were conducted in #Southall and #Northolt responding to calls for knife related crime, we also went to a call from the public where we searched males for suspected firearms."

In a tweet today (October 9) about an additional call out conducted overnight, the Special Constabulary team wrote: "We had grounds to detain a male for a search. The male was known to us, having previously been stopped. A quantity of drugs were found in his pants ready to deal and he was found to be drug driving."