Weapons surrender across East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire
Humberside Police are taking part in a national campaign
Humberside Police are taking part in a national campaign to tackle the number of people carrying firearms.
Knife surrender bins are being placed around East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire for people to hand in weapons.
Superintendent Lee Edwards is leading the weapons surrender in Humberside Police:
“No one needs to be reminded of the dangers of firearms and knife crime. We want to do everything we can to remove all weapons from the streets of our communities in the Humberside Police Force area.
“We are pleased to give our support to this national initiative once again as it gives everyone an opportunity to safely discard firearms, knives and weapons that could potentially cause injury or worse to someone in our area.
“Firearms can be handed in to enquiry offices across the force where they will be stored and made safe by our firearms officers before being forensically examined and destroyed.
“Knife surrender bins will be located at a number of police stations and so anyone can hand over knives safely and anonymously and in turn remove these weapons from our streets.
“In addition to supporting the weapons surrender, our officers will be conducting a range of proactive community activity to support this initiative, including weapons sweeps and school visits as part of the #NoMoreKnives campaign and additional patrols.
“Our message to those who carry a weapon or are thinking of carrying a weapon is that it doesn’t protect you and in fact it makes you more vulnerable and places you in danger of serious harm.
“We want to reassure the public that we do not have an escalating firearms or knife problem in our area however it is important that we raise awareness of the dangers of carrying weapons and to prevent anyone else suffering from weapon related crime.
“The Criminal Justice Act 1988 is the legislation which deals with the law around offensive weapons. It is illegal to have possession of a bladed article in a public place without reasonable excuse, and from July 2021, the Home Office announced changes to the legislation which means it is also an offence to possess certain items, even in private.
This includes zombie knives, shuriken or death stars, and knuckledusters, and means people can no longer keep them at home. A new legal definition of flick knives, banned since 1959, has also been brought in, resulting in more of these bladed weapons being outlawed.
“Anyone possessing one of the above offensive weapons can be sentenced to up to 6 months’ imprisonment or a fine or both.
“This surrender gives people the opportunity to hand these weapons in so they can be safely destroyed.”
Firearms, knives and weapons, including other items made or adapted for the sole purpose of causing injury to someone, can be handed in at police stations from 12-29 May 2022. The stations with knife bins are:
On the south bank in Barton, Grimsby and Scunthorpe. On the north bank in Beverley, Bridlington, Goole, Pocklington, Clough Road, Hull, Osborne Street, Hull.