During the month of December, each of the four police stations in Hounslow borough will be placing a knife amnesty bin in its station office.

This initiative entitled Operation blunt has the key aims of reducing the level of knife enabled crime and reduce the routine carrying or possession of knives, which carries a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison.

This campaign is dual purpose. The police hope to arrest offenders, those who carry knives on our streets, whilst raising awareness that carrying knives does have consequences - you can get arrested, convicted and even hurt.

The blue surrender bins have a posters (see right) near it to indicate to members of the public that they may deposit knives in these bins. At the end of the campaign the contents, hopefully only knives, will be destroyed.

This is an opportunity for youths, parents or other to deposit knives for destruction, no questions asked. To prevent any problems for people carrying knives to the station we ask that they use sellotape or other method to tape up the blade to demonstrate it was not for protection or immediate use.

As part of the Operation local Police will be taking positive action by charging any person found with a knife for an unlawful purpose. Officers will also be making use of their powers to stop and search any person reasonably suspected to be carrying a knife, bladed or pointed instrument.

November 30, 2005