Nottinghamshire Police have caught more people carrying knives than most other forces in the country, according to government figures.
Police dealt with 635 offences where people were caught carrying knives or other bladed weapons in the year to March 2019.
It is higher than Derbyshire, which had 364 offences, Leicestershire, which had 415 offences, and Northamptonshire, with 336 offences.
Nottinghamshire Police have the only dedicated knife crime team outside of London.
The team, which is based out of St Ann's Police Station, stop and search people in the city suspected of carrying weapons.
Some of the forces with the highest number of people caught carrying a knife or bladed article were Greater Manchester (1,009), Metropolitan Police (4,721), Merseyside (740), West Yorkshire (799) and the West Midlands (1,347).
Figures for Nottinghamshire show a decline in people caught with knives between 2009 and 2015, from 626 offences to 374.
The figures have risen again to 635, year ending March 2019 - the highest on record.
The statistics are for people who have been cautioned or sentenced - therefore, it's not knife crime offences that rose but people being punished for carrying knives.
Superintendent Matt McFarlane, the new knife crime strategy manager for Nottinghamshire Police, said: "It is good news. We are catching more people carrying knives but that does not necessarily mean there are more people carrying them.
"It might mean we are getting better at catching them. This is a positive result.
"The big message is do not carry a knife because it does not protect you.
"All the evidence shows it increases your risk of being hurt. If you do choose to carry one we will try and catch you, take it off you and deal with you.
"Is knife crime a problem? Yes. Yes we have seen increases since 2015 but people carrying knives is not new."
Supt McFarlane, which has nearly 29 years experience working for Nottinghamshire Police, said he wants to work with 'communities' to try and reduce the problem.
John Poyton, CEO at Redthread, an anti-knife crime charity that has put youth workers in Queen's Medical Centre, said: "Through our work in A&E departments across the country we are seeing the reality of these statistics as we meet and support vulnerable young people after they have been seriously assaulted.
"It is clear from these statistics that we can’t arrest our way out of this problem.
"Every young person who gets hurt is one too many so all parts of society urgently need to treat this issue for what is is, a public health crisis, and work together to support our young people."
