Another 1,000 knives have been collected in amnesty bins across Suffolk and shredded as part of the ‘Bin a Blade’ campaign.
That brings the total number of knives to be destroyed to 10,936.
An initial year-long amnesty in 2011 saw 6,125 knives left anonymously in six amnesty bins. A further 2,205 were deposited in 2012. From January to July 2013 another 1,594 knives were collected, and after the bins were emptied again 1,012 knives were discovered which had been deposited between August and December 2013.
Overall the amnesty has seen 4,235 knives given up in Ipswich, 3,204 in Lowestoft, 1,992 in Bury St Edmunds, and 4,22 in Mildenhall.
Permanent static bins remain outside Ipswich, Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and Mildenhall Police Stations and police encourage anyone who wishes to dispose of a knife to use one of these bins. A temporary bin also sits outside Sudbury Police Station since December 2013.
Suffolk Constabulary Chief Constable Douglas Paxton said: “This campaign continues in its success every year with a steady number of knives being deposited in each of the permanent amnesty bins. Every knife off the streets is one less potentially fatal crime. I encourage anyone who carries a knife to make Suffolk a safer place by disposing of it responsibly and anonymously in one of our bins.”
Police will also be using the new Bluetooth/ Wi-Fi image distributing system to send updates about the campaign to members of the public across Suffolk via mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
A distributing system can be placed at a location and Bluetooth messages via images can be transmitted to people within a 100 metre radius.
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