Ban on zombie-style knives and machetes now in force, while stats show a rise in crimes involving these weapons in West Yorkshire
As a new weapons ban comes into force, we can exclusively reveal a sharp rise in the number of crimes involving machetes and zombie knives here in West Yorkshire
From today, owning zombie-style knives and machetes is banned, following a four-week amnesty scheme where owners were encouraged to hand the weapons into police, local authorities or knife crime charities.
The ban is part of efforts to reduce knife crime, with campaigners including actor Idris Elba pushing for the large blades to be outlawed.
Since 23 August to 23 September 2024, West Yorkshire Police tell us over 300 knives were surrendered.
Meanwhile, figures we've obtained show there were 990 crimes recorded last year, involving a zombie-style knife or machete, which is up by more than a third compared to the year before.
The number of children aged under 18 also being a suspect of the same crime, increased from 2022 to 2023, with over 230 last year compared to 150.
Chief Inspector James Kitchen is from West Yorkshire Police and said: "If they don't hand it in, the alternative is it's an offence, and people go to prison on first offence, for committing offences against that.
"So in public, in your bedroom or now if you're carrying it out and about. The fact is, we have officers who are out there doing extra patrols day after day, looking for people in possession for weapons."