Blunt response to police knife scheme

Police scheme designed to prevent stabbings in the home is branded ‘literally pointless’ by critics

Victims of domestic violence are being given blunt knives by police in an attempt to reduce the risk of them being stabbed in their own homes. Nottinghamshire Police have so far issued 50 of the knives, which can be used to cut food but not to stab people. Critics have described the scheme as “literally pointless”. One survivor of abuse said that instead of handing out blunt knives, police should focus on making sure that abusers could not threaten victims at all.

A POLICE force has been criticised for handing out blunt knives to victims of domestic violence in an attempt to prevent people being attacked in their homes.

Nottinghamshire Police has launched a pilot scheme whereby people who have been threatened or attacked with a blade will be offered a replacement, unpointed knife. Police chiefs said the initiative was designed to prevent knife-related incidents.

The force has 100 of the blunt blades, which can slice food but cannot be used to stab, and has so far distributed 50 of them. It purchased the knives for use in “appropriate high-risk domestic situations”.

The scheme is not mandatory and victims need to agree to have their blades replaced.

However, domestic abuse survivors said blunt knives would not solve any problems, and suggested that police could be left with “serious questions to answer” if someone identified as at risk was later harmed. Charlotte Kneer, chief executive of Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid Refuge, said: “It is well intentioned but the wrong approach.

“If the people who are being given blunt knives are identified as being at risk of serious harm, then that is what the police and other agencies should be acting on, rather than just putting a blunt knife in their drawer.

“If a victim is seriously harmed or murdered with another instrument after you give them a blunt knife, then the police will have serious questions to answer, given they had identified the victim as being at risk.

“If someone is grabbing knives out of kitchen drawers, they are a homicide threat. If there is not a knife handy in the drawer, they will do something else. They could grab a rolling pin.”

Ms Kneer, whose former partner was imprisoned for crimes against her, said the scheme reinforced the idea that domestic abuse was usually “a crime of passion”.

She added: “It brings up trauma for me. Once my ex grabbed a knife out of the kitchen drawer and attempted to stab me, and another time he grabbed a knife out of a kitchen drawer and tried to make me stab him.

“I see the intent of what they are trying to achieve but it is not solving any problems.”

Domestic knife crime accounts for more than 17 per cent of all incidents reported to Nottinghamshire Police.

Supt Matt Mcfarlane, the force’s new knife crime strategy manager, defended the blunt blade scheme. He said: “This is a measure we need to take. We want to reduce that risk. It is a trial.

“People will stay in a relationship after some serious episodes of domestic abuse. They may stay together for children, get back together, or might get back together when they are out of prison.”

The pilot has won the approval of some residents. Fiona Mcculloch, a 38-year-old mother-of-two and domestic abuse survivor from Chilwell, Notts, said: “I think it is 100 per cent positive. In a domestic setting, if they are determined to hurt you then they will.

“To have a blunt knife in my situation would have taken that risk away. It is like you are taking away their options and the more you can take away the better.”

Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire’s police and crime commissioner, said: “It is an excellent initiative.”

Critics, however, described the scheme as “literally pointless”.

Andy Carlin, who also lives in Nottinghamshire, said: “Blunt knives are going to do nothing to tackle domestic violence.” He said abusers could use their fists or stab victims with other household items.