Lives not knives places knife crime in spotlight

Southwark News and the Safer Southwark Partnership’s (SSP) joint lives not knives campaign has ended but residents can be assured that work behind the scenes to tackle knife crime will continue. 

Southwark News joined forces with SSP for the knife amnesty in May 2006 to highlight issues surrounding knives and challenge the people of Southwark to consider how they can do their bit to get knives off the streets.

Superintendent David Chinchen from Southwark Police said the campaign had been successful in profiling the wide range of projects being delivered by different partner agencies in the borough to reduce knife crime.

“I would like to congratulate and thank everyone who has supported the campaign and done their bit to help – from businesses that sell knives to agencies working in schools and parents teaching their children about the dangers of knives.”

Lives not knives highlights

The campaign has achieved significant outcomes

• The figures for June to August 2006 showed that knife related incidents were down 25 per cent on the same period last year, continuing a downward trend in violent crime since the end of the last financial year. During the same period there were also more than 350 fewer woundings (made up of actual and grievous bodily harm), representing a decrease of 32 per cent compared to last year
  
  
• During the period of the campaign the number of people arrested for carrying knives and blades has reduced significantly to 44 compared to 74 in the previous 11 week period. This represents a decrease of more than 40 per cent.

Enforcement and responsible sales

Nearly 330 knives were surrendered in Southwark during the amnesty with a further 50 knives seized by police during targeted enforcement activities. More than half of the businesses in the borough joined the campaign with 46 retailers signing the traders charter that promotes the responsible sale of knives and enforces tougher rules around underage sales.

Two of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains – Asda and Somerfields – signed up to the traders charter. Asda has adopted the charter throughout its stores nationally.

The number of underage knife sales significantly improved with seven of the nine shops visited during test purchasing refusing to sell to an underage customer. When the same test purchasing exercise was carried out earlier in the year, more than half failed by selling the weapons.
Southwark’s youth offending team launched a competition for young people aged between ten to 18 years old to design a memorial out of recycled knives that were handed in during the amnesty.

External recognition for the campaign

The Trading Standards Institute recognised the campaign and adopted the charter and associated as best practice in tackling underage knife sales.
UK music group Big Brovaz backed the campaign and said: “Knife crime – it ain’t big and it ain’t clever”.

Further information

Community safety team
Tel: 020 7525 7255
zoe.scott@southwark.gov.uk
Great Guildford Business Square
30 Great Guildford Street
Room 322, 3rd Floor
SE1 0HS