161 crimes involving zombie style knives or machetes in North Yorkshire since 2021
It's as a ban on the weapon comes into force today
This morning we can reveal there's been 161 crimes reported to North Yorkshire Police involving zombie-style knives or machetes in the last 3 and a half years.
We've gathered the figures as it is now illegal to possess such weapons.
The ban has been introduced by the Government in an effort to reduce knife crime.
Christina Gabbitas is an author from Selby, she goes into schools across the County to teach children about knife crime.
"We know that early intervention education does help, and I do think that primary aged children have been overlooked for education and so much more needs to be done, and I think it's fantastic that these zombie knives are being banned. But I think really what we need to do is to get more education in schools."
"If there's not an budget in the education, the Home Office needs to help fund this because it's not going away. It's every Year 5 and 6 needs this intervention before they go up to a secondary school and that needs to continue every year, not just now and again."
The ban is part of efforts to reduce knife crime, with campaigners including actor Idris Elba pushing for the large blades to be outlawed.
The Government plans to also ban ninja swords in the future.
Chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council Gavin Stephens welcomed the ban, but said enforcement is only one part of reducing knife crime.
He said: "We're acutely conscious that bans and the legislation and enforcement is only one part of the equation, and we know that there's a lot for us to do across the full range of our policing activities to deter young people from violence.
"We're not going to solve the problem of knife crime just by one aspect of it."