Sikh Kirpan knife/sword
Date of request: 30 June 2026
Reference: 17144256/26
Request
Original requests (16580881 and 16574617):
Please detail the number of reported offences between Jan 23 and Dec 25 where a ceremonial Sikh Kirpan knife/sword was mentioned in the crime report. If possible break the data down into the month it occurred and whether the offence related to possession of the weapon; threat of assault; or some form of assault using the knife.
Current request 17144256:
Please refine to just look at records relating to swords
Response
In line with your revised request focusing on swords, Avon and Somerset police have searched our crime recording database between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2025 for occurrences where the property type field has been completed with ‘weapon’ and property description field completed with ‘sword’ broken down by month. Please see below table.
| Total for Property Type – Weapon & Property Description – Sword | |
| Jan 2023 | 9 |
| Feb 2023 | 3 |
| Mar 2023 | 7 |
| Apr 2023 | 8 |
| May 2023 | 6 |
| Jun 2023 | 4 |
| Jul 2023 | 4 |
| Aug 2023 | 7 |
| Sep 2023 | 8 |
| Oct 2023 | 9 |
| Nov 2023 | 5 |
| Dec 2023 | 8 |
| Jan 2024 | 6 |
| Feb 2024 | 8 |
| Mar 2024 | 12 |
| Apr 2024 | 4 |
| May 2024 | 8 |
| Jun 2024 | 7 |
| Jul 2024 | 5 |
| Aug 2024 | 6 |
| Sep 2024 | 6 |
| Oct 2024 | 8 |
| Nov 2024 | 5 |
| Dec 2024 | 6 |
| Jan 2025 | 9 |
| Feb 2025 | 4 |
| Mar 2025 | 8 |
| Apr 2025 | 6 |
| May 2025 | 7 |
| Jun 2025 | 12 |
| Jul 2025 | 10 |
| Aug 2025 | 6 |
| Sep 2025 | 5 |
| Oct 2025 | 4 |
| Nov 2025 | 8 |
| Dec 2025 | 7 |
| Sum: | 245 |
In relation to “whether the offence related to possession of the weapon; threat of assault; or some form of assault using the knife”, Avon and Somerset Police holds information on the subject of your request. However, we cannot provide a response without exceeding the appropriate cost limit. This is because the information is not recorded in a way that allows automated retrieval.
Searches identified 245 occurrences where the property type was recorded as “Weapon” and the property description was recorded as “Sword”. There is no searchable field that records whether the sword was merely possessed, used to threaten another person, or used in an assault. To determine this would require an individual manual review of each occurrence record.
Allowing for about 5 minutes to review each occurrence, this would take more that 18 hours.
Section 12 of the Act allows public authorities to refuse requests where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit. For police authorities, this limit is £450 or 18 staff hours. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days determining whether the department holds the information and locating, retrieving, and extracting it.
This letter represents a partial Refusal Notice under the Act.
We have sought to assist by providing the information requested in question 1. Additionally, if you would like to refine your request, we would be able to provide a breakdown of the crimes identified above by recorded offence group. Our response would be subject to any applicable exemptions.