More than 100 knives were disposed into police possession through amnesty bins in Rochdale over the last three months, Greater Manchester Police has revealed.
The bins were located in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton, and out of the total 111 blades, 67 were deposited in the Heywood bin. Rochdale collected 35, and Middleton nine.
Inspector Graham Cook called the collection of more than 200 knives over the last six months “a fantastic result”, and mentioned a day recently spent at Edgar Wood Academy, Middleton.
He said: “We discussed recent tragic incidents, showed them some weapons seized on the streets and graphic images of injuries caused.”
The amnesty bins allow members of the public to dispose of knives while remaining completely anonymous with no questions asked at the local police station.
People who dispose of knives in this manner will face no legal challenges and not be required to give a statement.
Since the establishment of the bins, the police have almost doubled the number of blades obtained.
Knife crime fell in Rochdale from 182 incidents between January and June to 142 between July and December 2024.
Officers have been conducting more stop searches: the 1,265 that took place between July and December was an increase of 151 from the previous six months.
The higher volume of stop searches resulted in 224 blades being obtained – an increase of 17% from the first half of the year.
Inspector Cook said the police are determined to stop knife crime, urging people to hand in illegal knives and weapons to the amnesty bins.
He added: “We are determined to tackle knife crime and would urge residents who either have old knives they want to dispose of, or, are in possession of illegal knives and weapons, to place them in the knife amnesty bins situated at the front of Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood Police Stations.
“You can do so anonymously, knowing that these knives and weapons will be destroyed, preventing them from being used in criminality and causing serious injury or death.
Image provided by James Case https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
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