By Chris Gee

A scheme to replace pointed-tip kitchen knives with rounded blades in some at risk households is being considered for Greater Manchester.

The Pointless scheme, where some police referred households volunteer to dispose of their kitchen knives, is designed to help reduce knife crime and prevent serious injuries within the home.

The scheme, which is currently in operation in the Kent and Medway region, is billed as safer knife replacement. Police and other agencies there are able to offer the safer knives to eligible families and will provide them with a pack of four, or a single five-inch rounded kitchen knife, alongside safety advice and guidance, in exchange for replacing all the pointed knives within the property.

Discussions take place with each family prior to them being offered a chance to engage.

The main referral reasons in the Kent scheme are:

• If the young person has been arrested for a weapon related offence or has information suggesting they are carrying a weapon
• The young person is coming to the attention of the police in relation to drug dealing or young street gang involvement
• In relation to high risk domestic abuse

Those running the scheme say it reduces the risk in the home and round edge knives are less attractive to street-based knife crime. At a recent meeting of Bury Council, cabinet member Sandra Walmsley responded to a question about the possible adoption of the Pointless scheme in the area.

She said that while there were no confirmed plans for a scheme in Greater Manchester, authorities would be asking for details about the effectiveness of safer knife replacement for consideration on whether it should be introduced.

She said: "Greater Manchester violence reduction unit is aware of the safer knife scheme. "Specific evaluation of the scheme will be requested from Kent and Medway colleagues for consideration locally.

"If it's working well somewhere else and we can learn then of course we'll take that on board." Cllr Luis McBriar told the meeting he strongly supported the adoption of a Pointless scheme, or something similar in Greater Manchester.

He said: "There's been too much knife crime, especially here in Bury.

"If we could do anything, even if it's just stopping one incident, it would be fantastic.

"I've been speaking to quite a few people involved in the Pointless knife campaign and hope we could meet to discuss it further."

Manchester has some of the highest rates of knife possession crime in the country, figures published earlier this year revealed.

Greater Manchester Police recently held a knife amnest following the ban on 'zombie knives' in September (Image - GMP)

Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit have confirmed that Cllr Walmsley's comments sum up their position. The Pointless scheme has been informed by research at De Montfort University, Leicester (DMU).

In a study led by senior lecturer in forensic science, Leisa Nichols-Drew, five kitchen knives – each with a different type of blade tip – were used for 'stab tests' on items of clothing, to examine the damage caused by each knife.

The five knives used for the experiment included: a blade with an 'r-shaped' tip; a blade with a rounded tip; a blade with an asymmetric tapered tip known as a 'sheepsfoot'; a traditional pointed-tip blade; and a serrated-edged blade with pointed tip. The results revealed significant differences between the stab hole size and shape, depending on the design of the knife, with all but the rounded tip causing some form of damage.

The research found the rounded blade did not pierce any of the four fabrics whatsoever, leading researchers to call for conventional pointed-tip knives to be replaced with rounded-tips to minimise the risk of kitchen knives resulting in injuries.

"Our research suggests that there is an opportunity for crime reduction by swapping pointed-tip knives for rounded blades in the kitchen," Leisa said.

"A knife that can be used safely and effectively at home without the possibility of accidental injury minimises the risk of it being used as a potential weapon." "We want to remove the need for pointed knives. The majority of fatal injuries are caused by penetrative stabbings."

In the last three years, the equivalent of one in every 275 people living in Manchester was caught carrying a blade, statistics show. That put the city in sixth place in the country in terms of highest knife carrying offences per population – with a rate of 36 crimes for every 10,000 people living there.

It is understood that the police feel Manchester's possession statistics are high because of the force's efforts to proactively seize knives.

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