Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead calls for public to carry on handing in knives during Operation Sceptre week of action

Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead has called for the public to “carry on this momentum we have and take more weapons off our streets and out of harm’s way”.

This week marks the latest national week of action on knife crime, Operation Sceptre, during which additional amnesty bins are rolled out across the county.

As with previous Sceptres, drop off points have been set up inside police stations across Nottinghamshire, with 12 locations this time around.

Newark Police Station is home to a permanent knife amnesty bin, and during Op Sceptre one is also available at Ollerton Police Station, on Forest Road.

During the May campaign the county-wide amnesty bin offering led to 285 weapons — not just knives but bayonets and knuckledusters too — being recovered by police.

It came hot on the heels of 258 blades being seized weeks earlier, when the force’s four permanent amnesty bins were emptied for the first time in six months.

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.”

The recent national scheme which encouraged people to surrender ‘zombie-style’ knives and machetes saw 724 blades were handed in — either at counters or amnesty bins in police stations, or to officers directly — during the four-week countdown to the law change which made the weapons illegal on September 24.

Following this latest success, Chief Inspector 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 Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden added: “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.”

According to the latest Office for National Statistics figures, Nottinghamshire has seen a slight rise — less than 2% — in knife crime offences, when comparing July 2023 to June 2024 with the same 12 month period a year earlier.

There has been a 4% 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 at Bulwell Police Station, St Ann's Police Station, Broxtowe Police Station, Beeston Police Station, Central Station, Worksop, Kirkby, and Ollerton Police Station.

The permanent amnesty bins remain open at Newark Police Station, Mansfield Police Station, Oxclose Lane Police Station, and Radford Road Police Station.

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, by putting the weapon in a box, or wrapping it in bubble wrap.