A father who lost his son to knife crime has backed the use of stop and search by police after our investigation highlighted the shocking number of forfeitures in Tayside and Fife.
Alan McLean said an emotional farewell to his son Barry four years ago this week after the 27-year-old died from a stab wound following an incident in Burntisland.
Since then, Mr McLean has been a vociferous anti-knife campaigner and believes urgent action must be taken to tackle the blade-carrying culture developing away from the central belt.
“These numbers are quite scary and it’s quite frightening that it’s getting closer and closer to home,” he said.
“There’s a lot to be said for the police being allowed to do their job if they do 1,000 stop and searches and find just one knife or weapon that could be used to kill someone, then it’s worth it.
“I’ve always said from day one that I totally believe in it and I’ve got a lot of faith in it, and politicians with all due respect need to sit back and ask themselves how they would feel if they lost their son or daughter to knife crime.
“It’s been four years since we buried Barry and the wounds are still there. It has totally turned our life upside down.”
Tayside and Fife’s combined population stands at roughly 750,000 and, with an estimated 5.3 million people living in Scotland today, the number of knives given up in Courier Country compared with inner city areas like Edinburgh and Glasgow is clearly disproportionate.
Alex Johnstone, North East Scotland MSP, who has led previous debates on knife crime, said: “This is a horrifying list of weapons to be seized, but the number of knives detected is genuinely alarming.
“These statistics show that there can be no let-up in the campaign against knife carrying.”