HAND in your weapons - that's the plea from police in York and Selby as they launch a month-long amnesty today.

Police hope the weapons amnesty, which runs until February 29, will encourage people to hand in any firearms and knives which they have in their possession and reduce the number of incidents involving knives on the streets in the area. Plastic containers have been chained down in the reception areas at York Police Station, in Fulford Road, and Selby Police Station.

Sergeant Jo Sutheran, who is running the amnesty, said: "We want to reduce the number of weapons on the streets or that people have in their houses which can fall into the wrong hands. We want to minimise the number of times those weapons are used in incidents that we attend.

"It's not just for knives, it includes any kind of weapons and firearms.

"People will be able to hand in their weapons anonymously by putting them in a receptacle at the front office at either Fulford or Selby. People can just come in and put whatever they've got into that.

"We are asking people to hand over any firearms at the counter because they need to be made safe.

"It's still anonymous - they don't have to give any details, just say it's for the amnesty."

People can discard their unwanted items in the giant red wheelie bins which have been secured at both police stations. They have been chained down and cannot be opened.

Sgt Sutheran said weapons could be deposited at any time of day. If the front office is unmanned then people are asked to use the telephone at the front of the police station and someone will let them in. She said some people may have old military weaponry lying around their house that they did not know how to dispose of.

"In the past we've had weapons like really old knives which someone has found in a clear-out after relatives have died.

"If they don't want them then we would rather have them than leave them in premises where they may not be fully controlled."

She asked anyone bringing items to the station to take care about how they get them there, so they don't frighten anyone.

"We clearly don't want to cause any distress from any innocent person who just wants to make use of the amnesty," she said.

The Press told in 2006 how more than 1,600 knives, swords and blades were handed into police across North Yorkshire as part of a national amnesty. Senior officers say they were astonished by the results of the campaign, which saw 1,649 bladed weapons deposited at police stations across the county in five weeks.

In York, 153 blades were handed in and the biggest haul was in Selby, where 190 knives were removed from the streets.