Police are announcing a new partnership with the online
marketplace Wish that will tackle the sale of illegal knives in
the UK.
The partnership will see Wish establish a procedure for police
to report products they are concerned about to the company,
with Wish committing to review all reports and remove any
listings where police believe UK laws have been breached.
This follows Wish’s move last year to introduce new controls
that stop illegal knives from appearing in the search results
of customers located in the UK.
Police have prioritised working with online marketplaces on
this issue after it emerged that many of the illegal knives
being seized by officers were originating from sellers based
overseas.
National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for serious
violence, Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Sebire,
said:
“Officers have been telling me for some time that the main
source of the knives being used on our streets is online. It is
remains far too easy for our children to get their hands on
dangerous weapons and enforcement alone is not the answer.
“Whilst many of the weapons sold online from abroad are
intercepted by Border Force, this partnership with Wish will
allow us to cut off the supply of illegal knives at their
source. Our hope is to extend the partnership to other
online platforms to ensure a more unified approach to tackling
knife crime.”
Daniela Engel, UK Country Manager at Wish,
said:
“Wish does not condone the sale of illegal knives on our
platform and we have, for some time, been deploying measures to
remove listings of illegal knives. We are pleased to be taking
this one step further by partnering with British police to
react promptly to reports of illegal listings. We hope that
other online marketplaces will join us in working with the
police on this important issue.”
Wish is an online marketplace that connects millions of users
with a wide range of merchants all over the world. It was the
most downloaded shopping app in 2019, offering consumers a
range of items from fashion and accessories through to consumer
electronics and home décor.
ACC Sebire added:
“This initiative shows what we can do to prevent harm from
happening in the first place when we work in partnership with
socially responsible companies.”
