Measures to combat the threat of knife crime are to be stepped up across North Yorkshire after calls from communities to help keep their streets safe.
After more than 1,600 bladed articles were dropped into a secure knife bin in Harrogate during a trial period, 20 more bins are to be installed across the county.
The roll-out in January has been made possible by a grant of more than £15,000 from the York and North Yorkshire Office for Policing, Fire, Crime and Commissioning, part of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, through its North Yorkshire and York Serious Violence Duty (SVD) Prevention and Early Intervention Fund.
In partnership with City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police, bins will be sited in Skipton, as well as Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Northallerton, Stokesley, Thirsk, Tadcaster, Selby, Malton, Pickering, Scarborough, Whitby, Eastfield, Colburn, Richmond and York.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for corporate services, Cllr Heather Phillips, whose responsibilities include community safety, said:
“We want North Yorkshire to continue to be the safest place in England. But we have to accept that knife crime poses a serious threat to our communities.
“Following our knife bin pilot in Harrogate, people in other parts of the county have asked if they too can have them and while we may not have the number of incidents experienced in some larger cities, we need to do all we can to help prevent such tragic occurrences.”
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), crimes linked to knives recorded by police in England and Wales in the year ending June 2024 increased by four per cent to 50,973 offences compared with 49,187 in the previous year.
Robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument were up 11 per cent compared with the previous year.
In North Yorkshire, the figures are two-and-a-half times lower than the national average, but there is a strong desire among police and council officials to avoid complacency.
The first knife bin was installed in the Dragon Road car park in Harrogate in January 2023 and to date more than 1,630 knives and bladed articles have been dropped into it. The items are collected by North Yorkshire Police and then disposed of.
Cllr Phillips said:
“We have been pleased with the success of the knife bin in Harrogate, with hundreds of bladed articles removed from our streets. The roll-out across the county is a proactive measure to ensure such items do not get into the wrong hands.”
The York and North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime, Jo Coles, said:
“This project is a really good example of proactive effort to create safer communities by preventing violent crime and is exactly the kind of thing the Mayor and I want to see more of.
“Knife crime is a national problem, and amnesties like this help to get dangerous weapons off the streets without putting police officers in danger.”
North Yorkshire Police’s Detective Chief Inspector Jon Sygrove said:
“Every blade that is taken out of circulation is one less item that can end up in the wrong hands.
“Schemes such as this, along with strong proactive policing, help to achieve that. As a result, North Yorkshire has one of the lowest levels of knife crime in England.
“But we can only reduce it further by working with other organisations and communities across the county to deter people from carrying weapons and prevent offences from happening.”
Exact locations for the bins are still being discussed. Once in place, the public will be able to deposit the knife or bladed article through their hatches. People are advised to wrap the blade in thick paper or cardboard and secure with tape as a safety precaution.
The bins are securely bolted into the ground and padlocked and only accessible to police.
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