Greater Manchester Police's Operation Venture and its dedicated team continue to have a direct impact and contribution in its mission of tackling serious youth violence. The dedicated team also supports the work of the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – a multi-agency team that seeks to prevent violence by addressing the underlying causes. Officers from Operation Venture recently disposed of thousands of knives of all shapes and sizes at a local scrap metal compound, where most of the knives and weapons crushed were surrendered from local amnesty bins across 12 different locations covering the length and breadth of Greater Manchester. 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. Twenty drums were filled in January 2024 of approximately 3,000 knives which were recovered over a few years and then squashed and mangled into tiny metal chunks in nearby Openshaw. They were later then melted and recycled appropriately. Sergeant Paul Heap from GMP's Operation Venture team who organised the destruction of the knives said; "This action is vital in our attempt to remove knives from our streets and show an impactful stance to knife crime. "Each one deposed of is one less that can be used in crime or to inflict serious injury and the amount recovered further shows the use and importance of these amnesty bins which continue to remain in places across a variety of locations in each district across Greater Manchester. "This is an opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of using these bins to ensure we all play a part in keeping our communities safe." We all need to work together to combat knife crime and GMP urges anyone with information about knife crime in their local community to report it. 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
