Weapons seized at the entrance to Parliament in 2022
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029549
I note you seek access to the following information:
1. Please tell me how many weapons were seized by police at the entrance to Parliament in the calendar year 2022?
2. Can you please break down by type of weapon - e.g. 20 knives, 2 gas canisters, 4 batons, etc.?
3. Finally, please provide me with the dimensions of the five longest knives confiscated - e.g. 10 inch hunting knife, 4 inch swiss army knife.
Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.
Please find below information pursuant to your request above.
Please note that this data was recorded on the Crime Report Information System (CRIS), which is a database where information relating to criminal activity and its investigation is recorded. The data captured is from the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022.
I would like to take this opportunity to advise that the information has been collated based on the following definition:
A count of Possession of Weapon Offences where the free text Venue Address matched the following phrase patterns (where % is a wildcard):
• %PARLIAMENT%
• %PALACE OF WESTMINSTER%
• %SW1A 0AA%
• %SW1A 2LW%
The returned records were reviewed and any records deemed not relevant were discarded.
To then determine the dimensions of the longest knives seized, each crime record was read.
Therefore, please find below information pursuant to your request above.
Q1 - Please tell me how many weapons were seized by police at the entrance to Parliament in the calendar year 2022?
There were 42 weapons seized in the calendar year 2022.
Q2 - Can you please break down by type of weapon - e.g. 20 knives, 2 gas canisters, 4 batons, etc.?
A breakdown of these weapons is contained in the table below.
| Weapon Type | Possession of Weapons Offences |
| Bladed/Pointed Article | 32 |
| Mace/CS Gas/Pepper Spray | 9 |
| *Firearm | 1 |
| Grand Total | 42 |
* Please note that this has been recorded on CRIS as a firearms seizure. However, a review of the crime report reveals that the actual weapon confiscated was CS Gas, which is classified as a Section 5 firearm.
Q3 - Finally, please provide me with the dimensions of the five longest knives confiscated - e.g. 10 inch hunting knife, 4 inch swiss army knife.
Dimensions of the five longest knives confiscated are as follows:
• 20cm
• 10cm
• 3inch
• 3cm
• 2inch