SURREY Police along with other forces are supporting the Operation Sceptre – a national anti-knife crime campaign week of action.

The force will be undertaking proactive activity across the three divisions and encouraging knife owners to give up their blades anonymously as part of a national initiative to tackle knife crime.

To enable knife owners to give up their weapons safely and without fear of prosecution, knife bins are located at police stations in Staines, Reigate and Guildford from July 19 until July 26.

T/Supt Gary Pike said: “We are pleased to give our support to this national initiative. The knife bins will enable members of the public to hand over knives safely and anonymously and in turn remove these weapons from our streets.

“Our message to those who carry a knife or thinking of carrying a knife is that it does not protect you and in fact it makes you more vulnerable and places you in danger of serious harm.

“We want to reassure the public that we do not have an escalating knife problem here in Surrey however it is essential we keep on top of this issue and that’s what makes our participation in Operation Sceptre so important, one knife is one knife too many.”