KNIFE arches are being introduced into every secondary school in the borough.

Waltham Forest Council claims to be the first in England and Wales to introduce the detectors into every secondary school in an attempt to tackle knife crime.

The scheme was launched at Lammas School and Sports College in Leyton.

Chris Robbins, council member for children and young people, said: "There's no doubt that there is an issue of knife and weapon crime in London and it would be foolish to ignore that."

He said that the initiative would help tackle violent crime as part of an educational programme which involved the police talking to students in schools.

The arches will be used about once a term in each of the borough's 22 secondary schools.

About 12,000 pupils have been screened so far and no weapons have been found.