Forever Amnesty
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There are 13 amnesty bins permanently located across Greater Manchester where you can anonymously deposit a knife.
Many knives are held in innocence or ignorance of their illegality. The Forever Amnesty gives members of the public the chance to dispose of a knife 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.
At the beginning of the 2020, GMP launched the Forever Amnesty following the overwhelming success of September 2019's knife amnesty, and in further efforts to reduce knife crime across Greater Manchester.
Thousands of knives have been deposited in the bins since the launch, which is a fantastic result for Greater Manchester, as any knife deposited is one less on our streets, and more importantly, one less that can't be used as part of a crime.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the public of Greater Manchester for supporting the Forever Amnesty. Thanks to this support, the campaign continues to be a success.
Below is a map showing the location of your nearest bin. These are here throughout the year and knives can be deposited at a convenient time for you without any questions asked.
As an organisation, we are making huge in-roads into reducing the number of knives imported in to the UK. To achieve this, we have worked closely with the online retailers that were well-known for selling knives and offensive weapons at affordable prices, and that were often easily accessible thanks to the lack of security measures in place.
We have also worked closely with Border Force and Royal Mail to identify weapons being imported to the Greater Manchester. When a packages are identified by Royal Mail staff, they are intercepted and seized by the UK Border Forder; preventing them entering our communities.
Since the launch of the operation in 2019, we have intercepted hundreds of weapons which are heading to Greater Manchester; many of which have been purchased by children whose parents were unaware.
Members of the public, who purchase certain types of knives and weapons online, are actually committing a criminal offence in the UK. The offence is commented the moment you click the buy button - you don't need to receive the weapon.
Those who purchase weapons receive a visit from a GMP officer, which enables us to understand the motivations behind the purchase, and to take the appropriate enforcement or safeguarding action where necessary.
Retailers
With rising knife crime in the UK, there is increasing pressure on retailers to ensure that they are abiding by regulations and not selling knives to minors. Retailers face unlimited fines and/or up to six months in prison for failure to comply with UK knife laws.
The laws around selling knives in the UK are constantly under review, so retailers must ensure that they remain abreast of changes affecting their business.
At present, the two acts covering knife laws in the UK: The Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Knives Act 1997. Online retailers should familiarise themselves with these two pieces of legislation as they apply to both purchases made in physical stores as well as online.