Huge haul of weapons emptied from the region’s surrender bins

More than 1,300 knives, guns, machetes and other dangerous weapons that have been placed in the region’s surrender bins are to be destroyed.

They have all been collected in the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s 20 surrender bins over the past 6 months.

The secure containers are placed across the region and are one part of the strategy to reduce violence in the West Midlands and get weapons off the streets.

With plans to continue to expand the programme, the latest emptying of the bins saw a total of 1,321 weapons collected.

The bins are one of the many measures that the PCC and West Midlands Police have in place to tackle knife crime in the area.

Knife crime has more than doubled in the West Midlands since 2012 and is a problem across the country.

Commenting on the latest emptying, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster said: “Every weapon that is deposited into these bins is potentially saving a life.

“With this number of weapons collected in such a short period of time, clearly these bins are working by taking dangerous items off our streets.

“I’m committed to investing in more preventative programmes to stop violence happening in the first place.

“The West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit is working at pace to deliver a range of interventions that will help us intervene to prevent violent crime.

“We also have our expanded Police gangs unit working to disrupt and take on those who are responsible for violence.”