Lancashire Constabulary has joined forces with the ground-breaking national anti-knife crime campaign ‘Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife’, as the force conducts its own knife amnesty.
Since their amnesty began at the end of August, more than 500 knives have been handed in across the county – including swords, machetes and commando knives.
Lancashire officers have now given their backing to a national initiative designed to raise awareness of knife crime and encourage the surrender of dangerous weapons, and will be kindly donating the knives they collect to the Save a Life campaign.
The Centre is designing, creating and providing bespoke knife collection banks for the areas of greatest need throughout the UK and will be providing them to the Lancashire Constabulary in the support of their ongoing amnesty.
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Dowson, of Lancashire Police Force, said: “We are keen to raise awareness of the devastating impact of knife crime and to reduce the number of families affected.
"While projects encouraging the surrender of knives are not a single solution to violence, they have an important role to play in inspiring communities to get behind education and preventative measures”.
"Such campaigns show a desire to address local concerns and Lancashire Police is keen to throw our weight behind them in support.”
“We’ve been delighted with the response so far, but our communities have told us that they want an end to knife crime and that they want to work with us to make that happen."
Clive Knowles, Chairman of the British Ironwork Centre, said: “We are delighted to have been approached by Lancashire Police and to be able to work in partnership with them and their local communities in the ongoing fight against knife crime.”
“We are incredibly grateful for their offer to donate the knives that they collect during their amnesty towards the creation of the Guardian Angel statue, which will represent the culmination of our project, and will symbolise the nation’s stand against this tragic topic.”
