Knuckle duster knives, Samurai swords and machetes among more than 300 weapons recovered by Northumbria Police
As part of Operation Sceptre, the national week of action to tackle knife crime, red surrender bins were placed at six stations across the Northumbria Police area to encourage people to hand over any unwanted blades.
Officers also carried out extra patrols using knife wands and arches as well as hosting educational workshops with young people and partnership work in transport hubs.
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Hide AdTo date, the force has recovered 326 blades – including knuckle duster knives, samurai swords, machetes and Gurkha knives.
A total of 17 people who were wanted for weapons offences were arrested and partnership work with UK Border Force has seen 12 weapons seized.
Searches at licensed premises were also carried out.
Assistant Chief Constable Helen McMillan, Northumbria Police’s lead for serious and violent crime, said: "We know the majority of people would never dream of carrying a knife or a bladed article around with them but we are always happy to take people's unwanted items and dispose of them safely and make sure they never fall into the wrong hands.
“So far, we have seen more than 300 knives surrendered, which we see as a really positive response. All it takes is just one knife in the wrong pair of hands to cause irreparable damage and unnecessary heartache.
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Hide Ad"This past week we have been continuing our ongoing work to reduce knife crime across the Force area. Our teams have been out in their communities with knife wands and arches, working with our partners to make the streets and our transport hubs safer and we have also made a number of arrests.”
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, added: "It's important now that we build on this work, and that's why I'm establishing a force-wide Violence Reduction Unit to focus on the root causes of crime. I want to work with others to ensure we can turn around lives and actually prevent people taking part in violent crime."