West Country police forces collect 570 knives through week-long campaign

Police forces across the West Country have collected hundreds of knives during a week-long campaign. 

Police forces across the West Country have collected hundreds of knives during a week-long campaign. 

The project was part of Operation Sceptre, a national campaign aimed at tackling knife crime, which ran for a week in May. 

Actions carried out during the week:

  • Amnesty bins set up for people to anonymously hand in weapons

  • Community engagement events 

  • School visits, including the use of virtual reality headsets to show pupils the consequences of bladed items as weapons

  • New bleed kits installed  

  • Weapon sweeps

  • Stop and searches

Amnesty bins set up for people to anonymously hand in weapons.

Weapons handed in:

  • Gloucestershire - 281 

  • Wiltshire - 30 

  • Avon and Somerset - 234

  • Devon and Cornwall - 25 

In the year to September 2023, police recorded 27,846 ‘possession of article with a blade or point’ offences in England and Wales. 

Teenagers remain over twice as likely to be fatally stabbed than they were 10 years ago. Just over 80% of homicides among teenage victims involve the use of a sharp instrument. 

During the week of action, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) also worked with Border Force to crack down on the importation of illegal weapons.

Officers carried out 15 visits across the South West to people who bought weapons online.

Many of the people visited were unaware the weapons bought were illegal. In one case, a young person had purchased a weapon without the knowledge of the parent.