SUSSEX Police have announced a week-long knife amnesty as part of a national programme to tackle knife crime.

It is part of anti-knife violence campaign Operation Sceptre.

Bins where people can discard knives without fear of prosecution were placed at police stations across the county yesterday and will remain until Monday.

The move comes amid a rise in knife crime in the area. Police figures show weapon possession is up ten per cent in 2017/18 compared with the previous year.

Earlier this month, police launched a manhunt after a stabbing in Shoreham which they described as an “attempted murder”.

On the same day, a man was chased by two other men before being stabbed near Brighton Station.

Assistant Chief Constable Nick May of Sussex Police said: “Our message to those who carry a knife or are thinking of carrying a knife is that it does not protect you and in fact it makes you more vulnerable and places you in danger of serious harm.”

However he downplayed the severity of the county’s knife problem.

He said: “We want to reassure the public that we do not have an escalating knife problem here in Sussex, however it is essential we keep on top of this issue. One knife is one knife too many.”

In addition to the amnesty bins, officers will be attending schools, making test purchases and carrying out patrols across the county.

Sussex Police recorded 32 more offences of weapon possession in 2017/18 compared with the year before, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Although this increase is lower than the national average, it still represents a rise of ten per cent on the previous year, as annual incidents rose from 322 to 354.

Nationally, figures released by the NHS have also shown the number of knife-related hospital admissions in England is at its highest level for five years.

These statistics indicate there was an average of 12 knife assault-related hospital admissions every day in 2016-17 across all UK hospitals.

There were 34,700 crimes involving knives in England and Wales in 2016/17, with the number of offences increasing by a third since 2012/13, according to the Home Office.

Sophia Antoniazzi, of the Ben Kinsella Trust, which campaigns against knife crime in the UK, said: “Here, at the Ben Kinsella Trust we recognise the seriously devastating effects resulting from knife crime.

“Knife crime has a detrimental impact on not only the families of loved ones, but whole communities too.

“We understand the pain and trauma of losing a love one does not simply go away and the tragedy can simply affect everyone it touches.”