 Many dangerous weapons have been handed in to police |
More than 10,000 knives and other weapons have been handed in so far under a UK-wide knife amnesty. The figures cover 26 of the 45 police forces taking part in the campaign, which started 12 days ago and will run for five weeks in total.
Samurai swords and army training bayonets were among the items so far surrendered to the amnesty, launched amid rising concern about knife crime,
The figures were revealed in a survey by BBC Radio Five Live.
'Mindset'
Lynn Costello, co-founder of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (Mama) is a strong supporter of the amnesty.
"I think the idea is to get people to realise sometimes what dangerous weapons they have got in their houses," she said.
But Kevin Everard, director of organisation Be Safe which deals with children and knife crime, says he was not convinced the initiative would have long term benefits, no matter how many knifes were handed in.
"Unless you are changing people's mindset, you are making attitudinal changes to young people, then they can go and replace the knife," he said.
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