PICTURED: Deadly haul of knives dumped in West Bromwich High Street surrender bin

Police officers said a total of 22 knives were collected from a surrender bin which had been placed in West Bromwich High Street.

West Bromwich police officers shared the collection of deposited knives online, with a variety of the objects seen in photographs having blades measuring several inches long.

@WestBromwichWMP tweeted: "22 knives collected from the knife bin on West Bromwich High Street. 22 less on our streets. #knifebin"

David Jamieson, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, said: "These bins are only successful if the community supports them and I would like to thank everyone who deposited a weapon for doing the responsible thing.

"It gives me great satisfaction that there are now scores of potentially deadly weapons off our streets."

Police officers in the Black Country regularly use knife bins in town and city centres so members of the public can anonymously dispose of them.

More than 140 weapons were taken off the streets around the region in November.

The highest amount during the police operation saw 54 blades dumped into a secure bin on Dunstall Road, Whitmore Reans.

Meanwhile in Heath Town, Wolverhampton, eight knives and three swords were recovered. Other locations include areas around Birmingham such as Lozells and Erdington.

West Midlands Police revealed last year that it had investigated 2,026 crimes involving knives in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton since 2013.

When broken down, the figures showed Sandwell had the highest incidents involving blades at 722, while Wolverhampton came next with 546, followed by Walsall with 407 and Dudley with 351.

Crime Commissioner David Jamieson successfully campaigned alongside the Express & Star to change the law on zombie knives, which saw them banned in Britain in August.

Knife crime is a big priority of the recently appointed head of policing in Sandwell, who wants to crackdown on it alongside gang crime.

Chief superintendent Richard Baker told the Express & Star earlier this month: "Carrying a knife makes you three times more likely to be a victim of knife crime. We need to make sure young people in Sandwell know that."

Another police operation last year aimed at getting knives off the streets in West Bromwich saw more than 150 knives surrendered.

A total of 158 knives were dropped into surrender bins in February and March 2016 in a police effort to crack down on crime.

Seven bins were used throughout the borough, which saw the one in West Bromwich High Street collecting 71 weapons alone.

Alongside the cache of bladed items was one imitation gun.

During the same time, nine were handed in at Heath Town New Testament Church of God, while 12 were at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Whitmore Reans.

In 2015, 403 weapons including knives, knuckledusters, and guns were deposited anonymously in surrender bins across the Midlands.

A total of 104 were handed in at Whitmore Reans and 14 were handed in at Heath Town.

The operation was part of a scheme run by charity Word 4 Weapons which West Midlands Police supported.