Blunt-edged knife campaign is a ‘distraction’, says Thames Valley PCC
Matthew Barber says we should focus on other efforts to help prevent knife crime
The Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner isn't backing campaigns for round-edged knives to be used in homes instead of traditional sharp-edged kitchen knives, calling it a ‘distraction’.
It follows a survivor of the Southport attack whose calling for blunt-tipped knives to be used in home kitchens, including a ban on traditional sharp-edged knives.
Matthew Barber says, “we need to focus on the people causing danger and getting them locked up".
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, Mr Barber said: “I understand it's a very emotive issue, but I'm not a fan of it I'm afraid.
“The reality is that knives of all varieties are ubiquitous in society. We all use them every day for perfectly legitimate purposes and if you remove those knives, people can use other things as weapons.
“It's quite right that we should seek to get illegal knives off the streets and there are perfectly good laws to prevent people carrying knives in public.”
Mr Barber added: “For me, this is a bit of a distraction.
“We will have tens of thousands, if not hundreds of millions of knives out there in circulation in this country with sharp points to them.
“The idea that we could somehow remove them is fantasy and frankly, I wouldn't want to be confronted with someone with a round edged blade either. You can still stab someone with it.
“Still, we cannot remove knives from our society, and we shouldn't seek to. They are, for most people, incredibly useful things that we will prepare and eat our meals with.”
On the other hand, the yoga teacher who survived the Southport attack is leading a campaign to move to round-ended kitchen knives.
Leanne Lucas launched ‘Let's Be Blunt’ campaign and says, “if I can help to ensure this doesn't happen to another family again, I will”.
Ms Lucas said: "When people ask if there is anything they can do to help me, my answer is clear and comes from the heart: swap your pointed kitchen knives for rounded ones.
"Pointed knives, readily available in most kitchens, pose a very real risk of being tragically used as weapons on our streets. A simple yet effective change, replacing our kitchen knives with rounded ones, can remove this potential for danger.”
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were murdered and eight other children and two adults were injured in the attack in Southport.
The attack was carried out with a knife bought on Amazon while the killer was underage.
Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain programme on Wednesday, Ms Lucas said: "I don't understand why I've got a pointed tip knife in my house that somebody could potentially use as a weapon if they would like to.
"I know people say it wouldn't happen to me, my child wouldn't do that.
"We all believed it wouldn't happen to us, but I think we've just got to open our eyes to the real world."