The six-month Get Caught - Go to Court scheme was launched in April. Anyone found with a knife or bladed article is now taken straight to court instead of cautioned. Since it started, 32 adults and eight under-18s have been charged with offences involving a bladed article. This compares with 46 adults and 16 under-18s charged in the same period during 2007.
Superintendent Keith Wilson, of Little Park Street police station, said: "This pilot is believed to be the first of its kind in the country and appears to work as a warning against carrying knives."
The campaign is run by the Local Criminal Justice Group, which is made up of West Midlands Police, the courts service, the Crown Prosecution Service, the probation service, the local youth offending team and HM Prison Service.
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