Fearsome-looking display knives and a butter knife were among the 73 weapons dropped off in an amnesty bin or seized by Blackbird Leys police officers during an anti-knife blitz.
Sgt Alex Penn, the neighbourhood sergeant on the Oxford estate and a police officer of 10 years’ experience, said he’d been surprised by the range of weapons handed over.
“We had everything from zombie knives through to large machetes, flick knives and lock knives all the way down to a butter knife,” he told the Oxford Mail.
“Fewer knives means there is less opportunity to have access to a weapon in the heat of the moment.”
The danger is very real. In October, a man in his 30s suffered a number of stab wounds after he was attacked in Blackbird Leys Park. Four years ago, Christopher Lemonius, 27, lost his life after he was stabbed, beaten and left for dead in an alleyway near Jourdain Road.
Sgt Penn said the knife amnesty – part of the force-wide Operation Sceptre anti-knife campaign and Blackbird Leys’ own Operation Beaming push – was a chance to speak to people about the weapons.
“Even though it might only be a small number each time, it gradually brings to attention the fact it’s not acceptable to have [a knife].
“I’m not expecting, suddenly, every criminal to hand in their knives. It doesn’t work like that.
“But I want people to see we’re engaging in a positive way.”
The knife amnesty bin outside Blackbird Leys policing point Picture: TVP
The amnesty bins, into which people could drop weapons without having to answer questions, offered a way out: “There will be people out there, especially kids, who are carrying knives for what they believe to be self-defence who nine times out of 10 don’t want to carry a knife. They see the opportunity [to dispose of it], that we’re here and willing to engage with them.”
During the two week amnesty, the officers also conducted searches of parks in Blackbird Leys and Barton, This year three weapons were found compared to six last year.
The officers, who are based on Blackbird Leys Road, also did two drug warrants on the estate – seizing cannabis, class A drugs and wads of cash notes.
Cash and cannabis found on recent raids in Blackbird Leys Pictures: TVP
For Sgt Penn, however, as important is the work his officers are doing in the local primary schools.
There are already around 40 children at Pegasus Primary School signed up to a ‘Mini Police’ initiative. “The idea, really, is to get them involved in community events,” he said.
Another PC was creating a presentation for younger teenagers around the dangers of carrying weapons.
But Sgt Penn made it clear that young people carrying knives were in a minority. “Not that many kids are carrying knives. Yes, it’s possibly a bleaker picture now that it has been in the past [but] we’re involved in a lot of stop searches and we don’t find that many knives on teenagers in Blackbird Leys.”
Asked for his message to those tempted to carry weapons: “It’s not necessary for your protection and you are absolutely going to be in the minority.”
PC Beth Snowdon, PCSO Jack Hickman and Sgt Alex Penn, part of the neighbourhood policing team for Blackbird Leys
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