The fact that the police does confiscate sharp objects and arrests and prosecutes people leaves you with two possibilities: 1) There is in fact a need to curb

The fact that the police does confiscate sharp objects and arrests and prosecutes people leaves you with two possibilities: 1) There is in fact a need to curb knife crime, without these measures people would die a lot more. 2) There is no significant risk of knife crime, UK uses arbitrary law application to harass undesirable individuals and/or instill a "harmless mindset" into its subjects. Not sure what's worse.