Horrifying new photographs show the full extent of a country-wide knife amnesty with thousands handed into police forces across Britain. Images show bins of blades collected during the national event which ran between March 11 and 17. Many forces saw their biggest ever haul of weapons handed in, with banned butterfly knives, samurai swords and designer blades left in special bins. The amnesty was part of a national campaign, Operation Sceptre, run by police forces across the country to reduce the number of illegal knives in circulation. Picture of knives collected by Mildenhall Police force this week from Operation Sceptre Humberside Police collected in these knives, including many with footlong blades or bigger The Yorkshire force also collected in more than 100 smaller blades as part of the amnesty Humberside also published this image showing other bladed weapons handed in during the amnesty - including seven full-sized swords South Wales Police collected in a samurai sword alongside knives and cleavers in Op Sceptre Coloured kitchen knives and heavy meat cleavers were among the blades collected by Lowestoft Police during Operation Sceptre It was set up after most forces saw increases in the number of knife-related incidents over the past three years. Hertfordshire Police alone saw 680 blades dumped in marked wheelie bins at police stations including Hatfield (216), Stevenage (105) and Watford (78). The haul included swords, military knives, knuckle dusters and a large amount of kitchen knives. Other bins saw 250 blades surrendered in Potters Bar, at St Albans Civic Centre and Waltham Cross. The bin put out by Thames Valley Police outside their High Wycombe police station saw these heavy-duty kitchen knives handed in Twenty-six people have been killed in London alone since the start of the year as violent crime continues to spiral upwards Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, David Lloyd, said: 'These amnesties are an integral part of Hertfordshire's Serious Violence Strategy to reduce the number of knives on the streets, but also to send the message out that carrying a knife won't keep you safe. 'The response from the public has been very good and we have had some great feedback. 'However, we all need to continue to work together in Hertfordshire to ensure young people are aware of the risks of carrying knives.' It comes after a huge leap in knife crime which saw Spanish national David Martinez, become the 14th stabbing fatality in 16 days earlier this month, after 17-year-olds Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki, were killed in separate incidents in London and Greater Manchester. Composite picture of some of the people who have lost their lives to knife crime this year. Top row, from left: Tudor Simionov, Jaden Moodie, Nedim Bilgin, Lejean Richards, Dennis Anderson. Middle row, from left: Patrick Hill, Sidali Mohamed, Bright Akinleye, Abdullah Muhammad, Glendon Spence. Bottom row, from left: Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, Hazrat Umar, Che Morrison, Jodie Chesney, Yousef Ghaleb Makki Home Secretary Sajid Javid is calling for more money to tackle knife crime, while Theresa May and Met Commissioner Cressida Dick recently clashed over whether a reduction in officer numbers had fuelled the problem. The killings have prompted warnings of a 'national emergency' and sparked intense scrutiny of reductions in the size of the police workforce. The number of officers in the 43 territorial forces in England and Wales has fallen by more than 24,000 since 2009, and numbers of PCSOs have falled more than 5,000 in the same period. Mrs May, who was home secretary from 2010 to 2016, argued at the beginning of March there was 'no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers'. But a string of senior figures in policing including Met Commissioner Cressida Dick lined up to dispute her assertion.All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility