Knife amnesty: Hundreds of weapons handed in to Nottinghamshire Police

Police organised a range of different activities throughout the latest anti-knife crime campaign and chief among this was the setting up of 13 separate amnesty bins inside police stations up and down the county including in Bulwell, Retford, Worksop, Kirkby and Ollerton.

Members of the public were given the opportunity to safely dispose of any unwanted knives in the bins without fear of being prosecuted.

This offer was taken up by hundreds of people from across Nottinghamshire, with 289 weapons found to have been binned at the end of the week.

As well as a combined 285 kitchen and lock knives, a bayonet, as well as an illegal flick knife, butterfly knife, and a knuckleduster were also recovered.

These weapon seizures came a week after the force’s four permanent amnesty bins, which are available all year-round, were also emptied for the first time in six months.

An extra 258 knives and other offensive weapons were found to have been disposed of at the drop off points at stations in Mansfield, Newark, Hyson Green, and Arnold.

On top of the amnesty bin offering, officers conducted 25 knife sweeps at parks and other hotspot locations identified by the force’s different neighbourhood teams.

Multiple intelligence-led stop and searches and proactive arrests were also carried out, while a metal detecting knife arch was set up, which between them led to the seizure of ten more weapons.

Officers also visited 53 schools and colleges across Nottinghamshire to speak to students about knife crime, with more than 2,800 young people benefiting as a result.

This education also extended to shopworkers, with the force’s cadets, supported by the knife crime team, visiting 29 stores to carry out test purchase operations.

Of these, one store failed the test after selling a kitchen knife to a cadet.

Appropriate follow-up action will be taken against the shop, in line with Trading Standards.

Chf Insp Karl Thomas, Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead, said: “I’d like to thank everyone who made use of our amnesty bin offering to safely dispose of their unwanted knives and offensive weapons.

“Anything we can do to take knives off our streets is a positive thing, so it was pleasing to see so many people feel comfortable enough to hand over these weapons at their local police station.

“We also have four knife amnesty bins that are available all year-round for the public to utilise without fear of reprisal, and again, it’s great to see that these have been used too.

“Sceptre provides all police forces with a great opportunity to shine a light on the dangers associated with knife crime, so that hopefully people never make that decision to carry a weapon.

“A lot of work goes on between Nottinghamshire Police and our partners to tackle knife crime in our area, and Operation Sceptre provides us with a good chance to offer a snapshot of some of this.”