“Let’s carry on this momentum we have and take more weapons off our streets and out of harm’s way.”
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden is supporting the message from Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead during the latest national week of action.
Amnesty bins have been rolled back out across the county as part of the force’s activity for Sceptre, which started yesterday (11 November).
As with previous Sceptres, drop off points have been set up inside police stations across Nottinghamshire – with 12 locations this time around.
The amnesty bin offering led to 285 weapons – not just knives but bayonets and knuckledusters too – being recovered by police during May’s campaign.
This came hot on the heels of a further 258 blades being seized weeks earlier, when the force’s four permanent amnesty bins were emptied for the first time in six months.
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden said: “The work to take knives off of our streets is something we take incredibly seriously, which is why we continue to drive the message that carrying a knife does not protect you, it simply puts you in more danger.
“As we know, one of the keys to tackling knife crime is integrating the voices of those with lived experience to help feed into crime prevention strategies.
“With that in mind, our detached youth work teams are doing some incredible work on the streets of Nottingham to help support this.
“That work has resulted in young people handing knives in, which shows the levels of trust and confidence in areas throughout Nottingham are improving, and together we will do our upmost to ensure everybody understands the consequences of carrying a knife.”
Chief Inspector Karl Thomas wants to see these numbers bettered this Sceptre, with the knife crime lead urging more people to hand over any unwanted or illegal weapons.
“Whether it’s a knife, a sword, or something like a knuckleduster, every weapon we can take off the streets is a positive thing and makes our communities safer,” he said.
“It was pleasing to see so many people make use of our amnesty bin offering during the last Sceptre, with a mixture of kitchen, lock, flick, and butterfly knives all handed in.
“Not only that, but it’s clear the community have been making use of our amnesty bins all year-round too, which is important, as tackling knife crime isn’t something limited to just Sceptre weeks of action.”
This point was further exemplified by Nottinghamshire’s results in a recent national scheme, designed to encourage people to surrender soon-to-be outlawed ‘zombie-style’ knives and machetes over to the police.
A massive 724 blades were handed in – either at counters or amnesty bins in police stations, or to officers directly – during a four-week countdown to a law change making these weapons illegal on 24 September.
The majority of these – 445 – were confirmed to be zombie-style blades, with the response to the initiative being so great that one individual handed in nearly 90 weapons at a police station.
Following this latest success, Ch Insp Thomas has stressed the importance of maintaining this positive trend, in the form of more residents choosing to “do the right thing” and hand their knives in.
He said: “If the main reason for people feeling hesitant about going into a police station to use our amnesty bins is they’re worried about getting into trouble, I can assure them that this will not be the case.
“As I’ve said before, this initiative is not a trick. We want to take these blades and other offensive weapons off our streets, with this offering providing an effective means for us to do this.
“While the results of recent knife amnesties and surrender schemes have been positive, I’m conscious of the need to do more and am keen to capitalise on this positive momentum we currently seem to have.
“That decision to carry a knife and use it to hurt someone can have devastating consequences for so many people, so anything we can do to take these weapons out of harm’s way is a good thing and something we support as a force.”
Nottinghamshire has seen a slight rise – less than two per cent – in knife crime offences, when comparing July 2023 to June 2024 with the same 12-month period a year earlier.
That's according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, which showed there to have been a four per cent rise in knife crime on average across the whole country over the same two periods.
Throughout the week of action, knife amnesty bins will be situated inside stations, shared services and other locations in:
Bulwell Police Station – Gilead Street, NG6 8NA
St Ann's Police Station – St Ann's Well Road, NG3 3HR
Broxtowe Police Station – Strelley Road, NG8 6LL
Beeston Police Station – Foster Avenue, NG9 1AB
Central Station – Maid Marian Way, Nottingham city centre, NG1 6HS
Worksop – Potter Street, S80 2AH
Kirkby – Urban Road, NG17 8DA
Ollerton Police Station – Forest Road, NG22 9QZ
This is in addition to the permanent amnesty bins, which will remain open as well in:
Newark Police Station, Queen's Road, NG24 1LJ
Mansfield Police Station, Great Central Road, NG18 2HQ
Oxclose Lane Police Station, Bestwood, NG5 6FZ
Radford Road Police Station, Hyson Green, NG7 5GX
Anyone wanting to drop a knife off at one of the force's amnesty bins is asked to package it up safely before transporting it, with suggestions including putting the weapon in a box, or wrapping it in bubble wrap.
For more information about Sceptre, visit: Operation Sceptre: Nottinghamshire Police
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