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Boris agrees to consider knife amnesty after Assembly pressure

December 16, 2015 - Martin Hoscik@MayorWatch

Image:  IVL / Shutterstock
Image: IVL / Shutterstock
Boris Johnson has agreed to consider holding a knife amnesty after London Assembly members urged him to reduce the number of Londoners killed and injured by knives.

The calls for an amnesty were led by Labour’s Jennette Arnold in whose constituency seven teenagers have died during the past year.

According to official Metropolitan Police data, knife crime with injury rose by 11 per cent in the last year, with 3,657 incidents in the year to October 2015, compared with 3,288 in the previous 12 months.

Speaking ahead of today’s Mayor’s Question Time session, Assembly Member Arnold said: “Something must be done to buck the worrying trend of young people carrying knives if we’re to prevent families and communities from being ripped apart by these atrocious acts.

“If allowing individuals to hand in their knives without fear of prosecution gets these weapons off our streets then it’s an exercise well worth doing.”

Mr Johnson agreed to discuss the possibility of an amnesty with Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe after Arnold’s calls were backed by Liberal Democrat AM Caroline Pidgeon and the Conservative party’s Kemi Badenoch.

The Mayor also agreed to Ms Pidgeon’s calls to meet with hospital bosses who have yet to adopt the ‘Cardiff model’ of sharing anonymous data about knife and other violent offences with police and local councils.

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