Because of the national submission campaign, the NOS questioned a few municipalities that previously set up such a campaign about their experiences.
Amsterdam collected 115 knives during a hand-in campaign in November last year. The municipality says it is happy with the result: “Every weapon that is off the street makes the city a bit safer,” said a spokesperson.
The municipalities of Zwolle and Deventer also say they are satisfied with an earlier hand-in campaign, in which a total of 165 stabbing weapons were issued throughout the IJsselland region (eleven municipalities in Overijssel). Mayor Ron König of Deventer thinks that mainly ‘well-intentioned’ participate in such hand-in campaigns and that the effect among larger groups of young people will be small.
The three municipalities state that awareness is an important aspect of the actions, and so they are participating in the hand-in action again this week.
‘No effect on combating crime’
This does not apply to all municipalities. The fourteen municipalities in the Twente region, among others, are not participating. For example, the municipality of Enschede says that the police unit East Netherlands advises to be cautious about organizing this type of action, because it “costs a lot of time and capacity, is a far-reaching means and has no real effect on the fight against crime”. .
According to the municipality, the Public Prosecution Service East Netherlands also preferred not to participate in the collection week.
According to a police spokesperson for District Twente, they make sharp choices in line with the local problem. “In the safety consultation with the municipalities, we indicated that this is not an action on which we want to deploy our capacity.”
Nevertheless, the East Netherlands is relatively high when it comes to juvenile stabbing suspects (12 to 17 years old) between the beginning of 2017 and June 2021:
–
