More than 100 knives surrendered across district of Rochdale

Between November 2024 and February 2025, the three amnesty bins located at stations in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale received a total of 111 knives, with 67 in Heywood, nine in Middleton and 35 in Rochdale.

Since the amnesty bins were introduced, officers have been able to recover almost double the number of bladed articles they were obtaining beforehand.

The Forever Amnesty gives members of the public the chance to dispose of a knife of any kind anonymously with no questions asked, by simply depositing it into the amnesty bin at their local police station. Those surrendering knives are not required to give any personal details and will not face prosecution for carrying them.

Recorded knife crime data for the district of Rochdale showed that figures dropped from 182 incidents between January and June 2024 to 143 from July to December 2024.

Officers are also carrying out more stop searches in the district, up to 1,265 between July and December compared to 1,114 between January and June 2024. More offensive weapons are also being found through these stop searches, up from 192 to 224 for the same time periods.

Across the district, a successful test purchasing operation was run last week to test whether knives are being sold to those under the age of 18 and to promote the ‘Challenge 25’ scheme to the stores.

Test purchasing is vital in ensuring the shops are playing their part to reduce and prevent knife crime across Greater Manchester.

Inspector Graham Cooke said: “In the last six months over 200 knives have been taken off the streets of Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood, this is a fantastic result and is testament to the knife amnesty bins initiative and to the support of our communities.

“We are determined to tackle knife crime and would urge residents who either have old knives they want to dispose of, or, are in possession of illegal knives and weapons, to place them in the knife amnesty bins situated at the front of Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood Police Stations, you can do so anonymously, knowing that these knives and weapons will be destroyed, preventing them from being used in criminality and causing serious injury or death.

“As part of our initiative we spent the day at Edgar Wood Academy, Middleton with a colleague from the prison service, talking to all year groups about the consequences of carrying knives.

“We discussed recent tragic incidents, showed them some weapons seized on the streets and graphic images of injuries caused. The sessions were well received by students and staff and will hopefully have a lasting impact on their futures.”

You can report knife crime by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. You can also make a report via GP’s website: www.gmp.police.uk

To report anonymously, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via the website: www.Fearless.org