Christian anti-knife charity says Home Office failing to fund knife bins

But a Christian weapons charity has suggested they need to put their money where their mouth is to tackle knife crime.

Michael Smith, founder of the charity Words 4 Weapons told Premier he’d had a look at the Home Office’s campaign and approved of their adverts but criticised what he sees as their hypocrisy in failing to fund knife bins.

The charity has placed many secure bins on streets for people to anonymously throw away their weapons.

Michael Smith said: “My challenge in all of this is that they’ve spent somewhere between £1.35-1.5 million to put this massive advertising campaign out there, which is not a bad thing…however the Home Office has consistently fallen short in its responsibility to support organisations like Word 4 Weapons.”

“There is no one else in the United Kingdom putting secure weapons bins on the streets to reduce knife crime other than us and the Home Office have consistently turned down police forces when they have applied for funding to help us put knife bins in areas around the country, so it’s a bit of double standards.”

He continued: “If you’re going to tell people ‘do not carry a knife’, ‘do not carry a weapon’ – where on earth do you expect these people to put the weapons that they are carrying?”

Describing what he sees as a practical solution to the government’s problem, he explained: “What we have done for the last 11 years, without the support of the Home Office, is that we have been putting these bins out on the street…