FOI 4351-25 Butterfly Knives in Schools 2015 to 2025

Request to Northamptonshire Police

1. Please could I find out how many Butterfly Knives have been seized in Northamptonshire schools every year from the most recent data in 2025, back to 2015 - in Calendar years please.

2. Please can the data be separated into Primary and Secondary schools?

3. Please could I also find out which area of the region had the highest number of Butterfly Knives seized each year?

Response

Question 1
Between 2015 and 2025 crime occurrences searched for ‘Possession of Weapons Offences’ where the setting was a school. Then free text scrutinised to identify ‘Butterfly Knife’.

Total number of Butterfly Knives seized by Northamptonshire Police in a school setting 2

Question 2
Both knives seized from individuals in secondary schools.

Question 3
In both instances where butterfly knives were seized this occurred in West Northamptonshire.

The data presented in this response is an un-audited snapshot of un-published data sourced from "live" systems and is subject to the interpretation of the original request by the individual extracting the data.

Every effort is made to ensure that the information presented is accurate and complete. The information is therefore our best interpretation of relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of information for ad hoc requests may have limitations, and this should be taken into account when this is used.

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another. Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason, responses between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative purposes.

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