Police chief appeals for readers to hand in knives
BURTON’S top cop is appealing to people to hand in their knives as part of a month-long amnesty to get weapons off the streets.
The initiative, launched by Staffordshire Police in conjunction with the Mail’s Safer Burton campaign, will start on Saturday, March 3.
People are being urged to dispose of knives and other weapons anonymously into a secure knife bin which will be located in the enquiries office at Burton Police Station in Horninglow Street.
Chief Inspector Steve Maskrey, commander of East Staffordshire Local Policing Unit, said: “Staffordshire Police plays a major role in the Mail’s Safer Burton campaign and we are trying to work together, as well as with other partnerships, to make the area a safer place for all. While I can say categorically that Burton is a safe place during the daytime and in the evenings, it is timely to run the amnesty in conjunction with the campaign.
“Many families will have undergone house clearances and may have come across antique weapons quite legitimately, such as old samurai swords for example, and are wondering what to do with them.
“This amnesty is the perfect opportunity for members of the public in this position to hand these items over, safely and anonymously, if they wish to do so.
“This will be the first knife amnesty launched in Staffordshire in a very long time and I will be able to report the conclusion of the initiative back to the Mail’s readers on what has been handed in.
“Any weapons which have been handed in will be destroyed safely.” Yvonne Upton, whose son was stabbed to death outside a Burton nightclub in June 2010, is one of the main figures behind the Safer Burton campaign.
She said she was pleased the knife amnesty had been set up and she hoped that it would get some potentially lethal weapons off the streets of Burton.
“Weapons and knives are better off the streets rather than on them — so people shouldn’t be scared of handing them in”, she added.
A similar amnesty took place in June 2006, as part of a nationwide crackdown on weapons.
Safer Burton is initially focusing on knife crime and, if successful, the campaign will continue to tackle and highlight a number of other issues including drug abuse and anti-social behaviour.
