Cutlery Company Creates Knives With Square Tips 'in Response To Rising Knife Crime'

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From https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/knife-crime-statistics-stabbings-latest-cutlery-square-tip-blunt-viners-a9281791.html

Cutlery Company Creates Knives With Square Tips ‘in Response To Rising Knife Crime’
Knives in collection ‘have been repeatedly tested to ensure the tip does not pierce skin intentionally or otherwise’

Sabrina Barr
2 days ago

A cutlery company has created a range of knives with blunt tips in response to knife crime statistics in the UK.

In October 2019, it was reported that knife crime had reached a record high in England and Wales, with more than 44,000 offences involving a knife or a sharp instrument recorded by police in the 12 months leading up to June.

This marked a seven per cent increase on the previous year, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stating that the number of crimes involving knives was at its highest point since the 2010 to 2011 period.

[...]

[House of Roberts]

1. Anybody with access to a bench grinder and patience

can get around this obstacle.

[Sherman A1]

2. Yes, but

Both are required to do so and it is a good first step by the knife manufacturer.

[Denzil_DC]

3. Looking at the knife rack in our kitchen,

there's enough pointy and in some cases quite sizeable hardware already there to do some very serious damage indeed in the wrong hands. I'm sure the same applies to practically every household in the country.

This sounds like a rather gimmicky approach to the problem. Anyone who wants, or feels the need, to go out tooled up will find a way to get hold of a pre-made blade or improvised shiv.

Scotland's initiative to deal with the incidence of knife crime seems a more productive approach:

How Scotland stemmed the tide of knife crime
...
In London, a Violence Reduction Unit is now up and running in a bid to tackle the number of teenagers dying as a result of knife crime. It is based on a ground-breaking approach used in Scotland.

Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) was set up to stem the tide of knife crime which saw Glasgow become Europe's murder capital.
...
Its key message was that gang-related stabbings and slashings were not just a policing issue but a public health issue. The unit's motto was a simple one: "Violence is preventable, not inevitable."

In 2004/05 there were 137 homicides (which include murder and culpable homicide figures) in Scotland - in Glasgow, there were 40 cases alone, double the national rate.

By 2016/17 the number had more than halved to 62.

Last year this had reduced by a further three to 59. A sharp instrument was the main method of killing for 34 (58%) of those cases and all but one of them involved a knife.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45572691