POLICE in West Mercia are thanking the public for their support after a two week firearms surrender campaign led to more than 140 items being handed in to police stations across the region.
The two week campaign, which ended on Sunday, August 4, gave anyone with a firearm living in the area the opportunity to surrender it at their local police station.
During the campaign, 103 firearms were handed in with people also taking the opportunity to surrender 41 rounds of ammunition.
The total weaponry handed in was as follows:
Kidderminster – 26
Redditch – 14
Malinsgate, Telford – 26
Shrewsbury – 13
Worcester – 11
Hereford – 13
Total number of firearms surrendered -103
All of those weapons have been made safe and most of them will be cut up and melted down. Exceptionally rare weapons or those with high historical value may be donated to a museum.
Following the surrender, Superintendent Mel Crowther said: “We have been really pleased with the public response to this campaign and we’d like to thank every person who has taken this opportunity to surrender a firearm for us to dispose of safely.
“It is great to see that there are so many people as committed as we are to making our region even safer and protecting people from harm.
“Although we don’t have a major gun crime problem within the region, we do have a large number of legally owned firearms and other older firearms in people’s possession and unfortunately these sometimes fall into the wrong hands and end up being used in crime.
“Every single one of these weapons handed in is one less opportunity for this to happen so thank you to everyone who took part.”
Although the campaign is over anyone with any concerns regarding firearms in the community should call 101 non-emergency number or 999 in an emergency.
