Appeal to public to support Merseyside Police campaign to get knives off our streets

Merseyside Police is today appealing for the public of Merseyside to put its support behind a campaign to get knives off our streets.

On Friday night (March 2) officers were out in force in Liverpool city centre with knife arches as part of a multi-agency operation to support the #NoMoreKnives campaign.

The campaign is being supported by our partners including local authorities, health professionals, the Police and Crime Commissioner, St Helens Rugby Club and the families of knife crime victims Danny Fox and Sam Cook.

Hundreds of people voluntarily passed through the arches and the response from the public was very positive.

The operation is the start of an ongoing Merseyside Police operation to tackle knife crime.

Chief Inspector Steve Brizell said: "We are realistic enough to know that as a police force we cannot tackle the problem of knife crime on our own, which is why it is important that everybody backs this campaign and takes a stand against violent crime.

"The incident at Camp and Furnace in the early hours of Saturday shows how important it is we have that support from the community.

"We need parents, teachers, families, friends and community leaders to put their support behind this campaign and get the message out that it is not acceptable to carry knives on the streets of Merseyside.

"There are no excuses for somebody to carry a knife and sadly we have seen the tragic consequences that this can have – not only on the victim and their families but for the families of the person or people responsible.

"Hundreds of thousands of people visit Merseyside every year and we want them to feel that they are coming to a safe place and that they can enjoy their time here safely.

"As a dad myself I want to feel that my children are safe on our streets but we need your help to get the message out and to make it socially unacceptable for people to carry knives."

Stewart Moore, licensing and compliance manager for the Baa Baa Group said: “Having the knife arches in the city centre tells the public that Merseyside Police takes the issue very seriously and it gives us a great deal of comfort that the police are out there doing this.”

John Hughes, chairman of the city centre pubwatch scheme, said: “We need to get the message out to a younger audience. We want to educate people – just don’t take knives out and especially into the city centre – people are out to enjoy themselves.

"A lot of hard work is going on with Merseyside Police and the clubs. People want to come out for a good time."