{"id":6459,"date":"2014-02-13T10:41:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T10:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/02\/13\/community-knife-surrender-launches-in-birmingham\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T13:47:52","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T13:47:52","slug":"community-knife-surrender-launches-in-birmingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/13\/community-knife-surrender-launches-in-birmingham\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Knife Surrender Launches in Birmingham"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

City Set to Unite in Taking a Stand Against Knife Crime<\/h3>\n

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<\/p>\n

A knife surrender launches in Birmingham today as communities across the city unite to take a stand against knife crime.<\/p>\n


\n\u2018Get a life, bin that knife\u2019 is the message being spread to anyone thinking about carrying a blade in Birmingham. \u00a0<\/p>\n


\nThe knife surrender has been called for by local people and secure bins will be located at the heart of the city\u2019s neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n


\nThe initiative is being backed by young people who attended the Police and Crime Commissioner\u2019s Youth Summit in Birmingham in December last year and pledged their support for the surrender.<\/p>\n


\nMembers of the community and officers have been working with Word 4 Weapons to organise the placement of the bins – the organisation has experience of running a similar scheme in London.<\/p>\n


\nA total of three knife disposal bins have now been installed across the city and there are plans for more in the near future. The first three can be found in:<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Testament Church Of God, New Spring Street Hockley

\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Testament Church Of God, 240-244 Lozells Road Birmingham

\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Testament Church of God, Goosemore Lane, Erdington<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bishop Derek Webley, whose church in Lozells is hosting one of the first bins, said: “I fully support the initiative of providing bins for the depositing of knives.<\/p>\n


\n“One knife carried is one knife too many, one life taken by the use of a knife is one life too many, therefore those who want to dispose of a knife or knives in a safe place should have the opportunity and the facility to do so.”<\/p>\n


\nCommissioner Bob Jones explained: “Our communities have told us that they want an end to knife crime and that they want to work with us to make that happen. \u00a0<\/p>\n


\n“These bins are a direct response to members of the public who called for a knife surrender at our Stop and Search Summit in September and at our October public meeting on knife crime. \u00a0<\/p>\n


\n“I would like to thank our partners in the community and other organisations who have worked together to bring this about.<\/p>\n


\n“For this knife surrender campaign to succeed it needs to be actively led by our community and particularly our young people. \u00a0<\/p>\n


\n“Our recently appointed Youth Commissioners, will have a significant role in working proactively to spread the message to young people, about the risks to themselves from carrying a knife and the reasons they should use the knife surrender bins.”<\/p>\n


\nA knife surrender differs from a knife amnesty in that there is no temporary suspension of laws against carrying a life while the surrender is in place and there is no fixed duration for the initiative.<\/p>\n


\nDetective Chief Inspector Simon Wallis, added: “We have worked closely with our local communities who have led the way in introducing this initiative in Birmingham.<\/p>\n


\n“The most effective way to get rid of a knife remains disposing of it in a bin at home, but the knife surrender bins will provide an additional place for knives to be disposed of safely.<\/p>\n


\n“Knife crime has fallen considerably over the last decade – down 75 per cent – and our work continues to drive this down even further. We must also remember that fatal knife attacks are not commonplace.<\/p>\n


\n“Our Knives End Lives campaign has been running since the start of last year and was launched to raise people\u2019s awareness of the consequences of carrying a weapon. Almost 50,000 school pupils have now seen a hard-hitting presentation which is designed to steer them away from knife crime and “deglamourise” gang culture.<\/p>\n


\n“Carrying a knife, or indeed anything that could be used as a weapon, is a game changer: if you set foot in public with a knife you not only endanger other people\u2019s lives but also your own. If someone with a knife gets caught up in a row or scuffle there\u2019s every chance that knife could be used to injure or kill – and may well be used against the carrier.<\/p>\n


\n“Carrying knives “for protection” is a total fallacy – in reality it may well result in the person being seriously hurt or punished by the courts. One life affected by knife crime is one too many.”<\/p>\n


\nCllr James McKay, Cabinet Member for a Green, Safe & Smart City, commented: “It is important that we respond to the needs of our communities on such important issues as knife crime and by supporting this community-led campaign our residents will feel safer in their own neighbourhoods and it is key that our young-people are leading the way in shaping a safer Birmingham.”<\/p>\n


\nAnyone with information on those carrying a knife should call police on 101. People who do not want to speak to officers directly can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Set to Unite in Taking a Stand Against Knife Crime A knife surrender launches in Birmingham today as communities across the city unite to take a stand against knife crime. \u2018Get a life, bin that knife\u2019 is the message being spread to anyone thinking about carrying a blade in Birmingham. \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}