Amnesty bins (FOI ref: 1024/26)

Request

I submit this request for specific information regarding the stop and search data in the West Midlands Police area of responsibility. The information being sought relates to the data sets gathered by various public safety bodies in your area. This information is sought under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA 2000). We are requesting the following data for the 2025 financial year:

1. The number of weapons recovered from amnesty bins in *area*.
2. The number of amnesty bins operated by *police force*.
3. The dates when each bin was installed (and removed, if applicable).
4. The general location of each bin (e.g. ward, borough, or postcode sector - precise addresses are not required if sensitive).

Response

Please note that for the West Midlands Police area, we are unable to answer this request, as this information is held by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, and not by West Midlands Police.

Please submit your FOI request directly to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), via the following email address:

Freedom of Information - West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner

Separate to the above, I can confirm that West Midlands Police do hold some information:

We currently have three surrender bins which were provided to West Midlands Police by the Home Office last year, to coincide with a change in legislation regarding ninja swords. These are managed separately to those run by the OPCC, and we can provide the following data for these three bins only:

1. The number of weapons recovered from these three bins for financial year 2025-26: 525
2. Three bins
3. The bins were installed on 20, 22 and 28 June 2025
4. There are two bins located in Wolverhampton (WV3 and WV14), and one in Coventry (CV1)

You mention that your request is for “specific information regarding the stop and search data”. Please note that surrender of weapons via an amnesty bin is voluntary and anonymous, and the information provided above would not be included with or classed as ‘stop and search’ data.