Police in Nottinghamshire, England, believe they’ve found the solution to domestic violence, British news station ITV reports. The brilliant idea? Replace the kitchen knives in victims’ homes with blunt ones.
The program will provide “no-point” knives to victims who report being threatened or attacked with a knife in their home.
“We are trialing it to see if it makes a difference,” said Nottinghamshire Police Superintendent Matt McFarlane, according to ITV. “Sometimes you have to trial things to see if they work. Anything that stops someone being seriously injured is a good idea.”
But people on Twitter, understandably, do not think it’s a good idea.
Imagine being the force that has come up with this claptrap.
— Dr. Jessica Taylor (@DrJessTaylor) June 12, 2019
‘Hello, we’ve assessed you as very high risk of DV. We aren’t actually going to do anything but here are some blunt kitchen utensils. If he carries on misbehaving, we’ll come back and only give him plastic utensils.’
https://twitter.com/HalcyonEmber/status/1138822813157081088
While kitchen knives are indeed a potential weapon, so is basically everything else.
https://twitter.com/MegaraFurie/status/1138835206444670976
https://twitter.com/jojowsn295/status/1138764487429885952
When my ex choked me I thought to myself gee I’m glad I’m surrounded be all these blunt objects I’m safe now 🙄
— 🏳️🌈Katie ‘The Fluff’🏳️🌈 (@MummyTBD) June 12, 2019
In fact, blunt objects, which include fists, are more likely to be weaponized against victims than kitchen knives. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, only 19% of domestic violence involves a weapon at all.
‘Oh wow thank you! Now you have provided him with blunt utensils, I am at much less risk of being beaten, shoved, raped, assaulted, controlled, humiliated, isolated, kicked, spat at and thrown down stairs. At least now we have the blunt knives. Thank fuck for that.’
— Dr. Jessica Taylor (@DrJessTaylor) June 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/EdinburghMayhem/status/1138754911708110849
David Spicer, whose Twitter bio says he’s a psychotherapeutic counselor, points out that there’s no such thing as a blunt knife if you use it with sufficient force.
https://twitter.com/calmspice/status/1138793750568869888
Others suggested that doing so will cause more damage than if a sharp blade was used to begin with.
And a lot of time a blunt knife will cause more actual damage
— Nick the Communist (@Nick12IVI) June 12, 2019
And more likely to bleed to death due to the larger wound and the spread of the force.
— ⚫️ Lorna 🏴🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@starsmurf77) June 12, 2019
You know when you hear stories about a knife missing something vital, eg artery, spinal cord, by millimetres? With a blunt knife, the trauma would have spread out, so the person would’ve died.
It’s also not that hard to find or even make a sharp object if you want one, even if you no longer have knives laying around.
https://twitter.com/tasbeachmum/status/1138753385295781889
https://twitter.com/KirstyDillon/status/1138870564976807937
Or to go out and buy one if you notice the cops have been around and blunted yours.
https://twitter.com/Boymum1/status/1139138581090492421
Many are questioning why, if there’s enough evidence to replace someone’s kitchenware, police aren’t just arresting the abuser instead.
https://twitter.com/Melkur_Mistress/status/1139081038213386240
OOOOOOOOOR ARREST THE FUKKING ABUSERS HOWNIS THIS A THING???!?!?
— J. P. Dailing 😷 (@jpdailing) June 13, 2019
Others are pointing out that kitchen knives are sharp for a reason, and that trying to cook with a blunt knife is actually dangerous in and of itself.
… so they won’t be able to chop any vegetables or cook properly, but can still quite easily get beaten up or stabbed with nail scissors or burned with cigarettes? This is one of the silliest, most useless and self-defeating ideas I’ve ever seen. Wtf.
— Edgar Allan Bitch (Sapphire_rosa_ / Saf) (@edgar_a_bitch) June 12, 2019
So far, the program is still in the trial stage and only being tried in one small area. Hopefully, that means a better solution will be thought up in the meantime.
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H/T ITV
