Latest knife bin opened after armed attacks in Birmingham

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson was in Oldbury on Monday to open the latest secure knife container

Communities are being urged to work together to help stamp out armed crime after a week of attacks.

Adbul Rahman was killed at a barbecue, Ozell Pemberton, 16, was fatally stabbed and an 18-year-old shot in the arm in separate incidents in Birmingham.

David Jamieson, the West Midlands crime commissioner, was speaking at the launch of a new secure knife container.

A second gun amnesty in six months is also under way.

The police force's area had more than double the national average of gun crimes between 2015 and 2016, with 19 offences per 100,000 residents.

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Latest figures by the Office for National Statistics however, show that number has now fallen to 13 offences per 100,000 residents, with the national average has rising slightly to 11.

Knife crime has risen by 22% in England and Wales in 2017, the ONS said.

Mr Jamieson said the bin was just part of the solution

Mr Jamieson was on Freeth Street in Oldbury on Monday to open the latest secure knife container that aims to take the weapons off the streets.

He said a solution to the problem was complex, and while work was going on, "we've got to be doing a lot more than we are now".

"We've actually got to look at why it is happening, why some young boys, why some young men are actually picking up knives and attacking each other," he said.

He said the bin was just part of the solution.

"Most of all, we need communities working together to make sure that we can keep communities safe."

Mr Jamieson launched the £2m Commission on Gangs and Violence last autumn, which involves police, city council, specialist gang negotiators and community groups.

A 17-year-old boy appeared before city magistrates on Monday accused of Mr Pemberton's murder.