Nottinghamshire Police knife amnesty as part of national week of action Operation Sceptre

f.burrows@iliffepublishing.co.uk

Published: 10:30, 15 November 2022

People are being urged to bin unwanted knives before they fall into the wrong hands as part of a national campaign.

Nottinghamshire Police have set up amnesty bins at stations across the county in a bid to take more blades out of circulation.

As many as 14 amnesty bins have been rolled out inside chosen police stations as part of a national week of action to root out knife crime, called Operation Sceptre, which runs from November 14 to 20.

Operation Sceptre, knife amnesty. Image: Nottinghamshire Police (60657864)

Anyone wanting to throw a knife away can do so without fear of being prosecuted by safely dropping it in one of the bins over the next few days.

Nearly 200 knives were seized and destroyed after the bins were deployed during the two previous weeks of action in November 2021 and May of this year.

Following this success, permanent amnesty bins were also recently set up inside each of Newark, Radford Road and Mansfield stations, to help take even more knives off the streets.

These permanent bins allow for knives to be discarded all year-round beyond Operation Sceptre.

Superintendent Kathryn Craner, Nottinghamshire Police’s lead on knife crime, said: “It's important people realise that this initiative isn’t a trick and that they can drop off unwanted knives without getting into trouble.

“These bins are available for everyone to use, whether it’s to get rid of a blade that belongs to them, or they’ve found one and are worried about it falling into the hands of someone else.

“People may also be looking for ways to hand in certain weapons, like knuckledusters and zombie knives, which are now also illegal to have in their homes, so this offers a good opportunity to do that."

Operation Sceptre, knife amnesty. Image: Nottinghamshire Police (60657861)

Following past successes Superintendent Craner hopes to see similar results in the latest week of action.

“While we’ll again be providing knife drop off points within the community throughout Operation Sceptre, we want to stress that taking knives off our streets is very much a year-round aim for us." She said.

“We have recently expanded our knife amnesty offering further by setting up permanent bins inside a number of stations, where people can drop off unwanted blades without fear of reprisal.

“Taking dangerous weapons off the streets and out of harm’s way is key to helping us reduce knife crime, so we’re pleased to provide this important initiative.”