A RECORD number of knives and guns have been destroyed thanks to weapon surrender bins.
Across a nine-week period between April and June, a total of 1,118 dangerous weapons were safely deposited across the 31 containers, which are commissioned by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, in the region.
It means, on average, 124 weapons have been taken off the streets per week since the bins were last emptied in March.
Across the same period last year (April to June 2023), 659 weapons – including machetes and firearms – were collected and destroyed.
A year later, that figure has almost doubled which illustrates the sheer importance of PCC Simon Foster’s initiative.
A breakdown of weapons handed in – which range from kitchen and craft knives to tools and handguns – show 431 were deposited across 15 containers in Birmingham and Solihull.
In Coventry, 86 were put into the PCC’s container on Far Gosford Street.
In the Black Country, 416 were collected across eight locations which included 151 outside Tesco in the Town Gate Retail Park in Dudley.
In Wolverhampton, 185 weapons were safely deposited, of which 97 were handed in near Tabernacle Baptist Church in Whitmore Reans.
Mr Foster said: “Weapon surrender bins are continuing to have a significant impact, because they play an important role in keeping people, families, businesses and communities safe here in the West Midlands.
“I’ve witnessed the bins being cleared and the range of weapons that have been deposited – and then later destroyed – is truly staggering. They are ensuring fewer dangerous weapons are out on the streets of the West Midlands, preventing serious violence and communities are safer because of them.
“As I keep stressing, every knife, blade or weapon placed in a surrender bin, is potentially a life saved.”
Mr Foster pays for the installation and maintenance of all 31 weapon surrender bins in the region.
To find out where a container is near you, visit the interactive map on the PCC’s website.
