00:00 It's better in numbers, we have more officers around and to help them out and we know a lot of the note.
00:04 A surprise visit with a big announcement.
00:07 This week the Home Secretary met with police and joined a patrol on Gravesend High Street
00:12 ahead of plans to end the sale of so-called zombie knives once and for all.
00:17 He says it is part of a wider plan to make the country and the county safer.
00:22 I recognised that to prevent re-offending you do need a close working relationship between
00:30 all kinds of agencies. That's what we've seen here in Kent, a close working relationship
00:34 between the police, the statutory services, voluntary services, it is really important.
00:39 But we have seen a reduction in crime. We have a plan to drive it down further, that plan is working.
00:45 We're determined to take these knives off the streets. That is what I'm here discussing in Kent.
00:52 But for Lennox Rogers, the CEO of Dartford youth violence charity Refocus,
00:57 this is too little too late.
00:59 You know them now after all these years bringing out, trying to bring out tougher measures,
01:07 I think well you should have done that years ago. I mean these types of knives they call zombie knives,
01:13 I mean just looking at them you know that they're going to harm someone, that's what they're designed
01:20 for and so that should have been in place a long time ago. So it kind of feels like the 59th minute
01:28 of the 11th hour that they're bringing this out. You know many people are coming out of London to
01:34 Kent and I don't think they're investing in any money to help Kent deal with some of the overflow
01:42 of these issues.
01:43 His feelings are echoed by Ashford Knife Charity Uprising,
01:47 who say any ban needs to come with wider action.
01:50 I think it's, I think yeah if they're not on the street then I'm all for it essentially.
01:55 There is no need to carry anything like that around so to make it harder to get hold of one
02:00 I think is really positive but I think for me that has to be done in the context
02:04 of like other work as well. It can't just be banning knives, there has to be opportunities
02:10 for people to work with young people to educate, prevention work and all that stuff. It needs to
02:15 be formed part of the picture but a positive step getting them off the street definitely.
02:19 It has been more than seven years since the government first attempted to ban these weapons
02:24 but a loophole in how they're defined means they're still being sold on the street.
02:28 A loophole the government hope will be closed later this year.
02:33 This is the third time since 2016 the UK government have attempted to ban zombie knives
02:40 in their entirety, which poses the question do people here in Medway feel safe?
02:47 Generally speaking I do feel rather safe in terms of like comparing it to other places in UK.
02:54 Possibly not, no it depends what sort of time of day that you're out
02:58 on the streets but say go on nine o'clock at night probably I wouldn't say I feel entirely safe.
03:06 When I see crowded people I do get concerned I have to be honest
03:09 being a male you know I always tend to expect something to kind of happen.
03:15 Government legislation is being presented to parliament today with a ban on these weapons
03:19 on the table for September but the fact they haven't been banned earlier will cut deep for
03:24 knife crime charities across Kent. Oliver Leeds at the SAC's reporting for KMTV.
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