AN artwork created by a Thurrock youngster features in a new knife amnesty campaign being run by Essex Police.

The knife amnesty is across across Essex and will feature knife deposit bins at 14 sites across the county.

Essex Police has now taken over responsibility for the bins, which are funded by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC), the Violence and Vulnerability Unit (VVU) and Essex Police.

As part of that move, a new bin has been installed at Grays police station on Brook Road and is decorated with the artwork of Rachida, 12, from the Hathaway Academy.

Police have also partnered with the Ben Kinsella Trust, an educational charity set up following the murder of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella in 2008.

The organisation campaigns against knife crime and works with more than 4,000 young people each year in order to prevent them from straying into crime.

The re-launch of the bins coincides with a knife amnesty, which will take place across the county starting today (Monday, 9 May).

The amnesty allows for anyone who wants to dispose of bladed weapons to do so safely and without fear of prosecution. The priority is for as many knives as possible to be taken off the streets of Essex.

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These bins are, of course, just one element of our wider approach to tackling knife crime.

Temporary Detective Chief Inspector Clayton Ford, of the Prepare, Prevent and Protect Team, which is part of the Essex Force's Serious Violence Unit, said: "We put significant effort into tackling knife crime including 'hotspot' policing, intelligence gathering, using knife arches, and utilising additional powers such as dispersal orders and Section 60 powers, which are an extension of the stop-and-search activity which takes place every day.

"Thankfully, knife enabled crime is falling across Essex; in the year 2019/2020 – the best year with which to compare given the impact of covid – there were 1,881 offences recorded. In 2021/2022, 1,629 offences were recoded – a drop of 13 per cent.

"But we aren't resting on our laurels. Knife crime and violence is not an issue the police can tackle alone, and we work with partners to address it.

"In Essex, we are incredibly lucky to have so many partners, such as the Essex Violence and Vulnerability Unit, who believe the same as we do – that the response to knife crime requires a multi-agency approach by working with education, health, local authorities, local organisations and probation services.

"A key focus is to help divert people who are involved in, or at risk of being involved in, knife and violent crime away from this lifestyle and into areas as sports, education, volunteering, rehabilitation.

"This is a battle that we as a community must fight together. That includes educating our children about the reality of being involved in gangs and the reality that carrying a knife will not protect them but put them at more risk of being hurt or hurting someone else."