Revealed: The hotspots where people in the crowd are hiding weapons

The locations of metal detection scans carried out by Queensland Police can be revealed for the first time, with dozens of weapons found in shopping centres as well as crime hotspots, including nightclub districts.

Documents obtained by Brisbane Times show that from January to March this year, police wanded more than 12,400 people but charged fewer than 3 per cent with weapons offences.

The data shows officers conducted scanning operations in major hubs around south-east Queensland, such as nightclub areas in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and shopping complexes, including Toowong Village, Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, and Westfield Mount Gravatt.

Police wanding data reveals the south-east Queensland shops and transport hubs where most weapons are found.Credit: Brisbane Times

The highest number of weapons were recorded at Surfers Paradise’s safe night precinct (27 weapons), Broadbeach South light rail stop (13 weapons), and bus stop A outside the Logan Hyperdome Shopping Centre in Shailer Park (10 weapons).

The shopping centres with the most weapons detected were Chermside in Brisbane’s north and Grand Central in Toowoomba, with four found in each.

Searches were carried out at dozens of transport hubs, such as the Chermside bus interchange, Central train station, and bus platforms at Carindale Shopping Centre.

From more than 12,400 scans, 303 people were charged with weapons offences – a 2.4 per cent strike rate.

The wanding operations, known as Jack’s Law, were put in place following the fatal stabbing of teenager Jack Beasley in 2019.

Janet Ransley, a Griffith University criminology professor who undertook the first review of the police wanding trial in 2022, said the data showed the need for targeted resourcing.

“There are a lot of resources that are going into scans that aren’t finding anything, in places where there’s obviously not much to find,” she said. “And yet, there are places that really do obviously have a problem, like Surfers Paradise.”

Hidden weapons a ‘known problem at Surfers Paradise’

Ransley recalled being told during her initial research that people were using the Gold Coast tram to bring weapons into the Surfers Paradise area.

People used the Gold Coast tram to bring weapons into Surfers Paradise, a Griffith University criminology professor said.Credit: Glenn Hunt

She said large numbers of weapons were still coming out of Surfers Paradise.

“[That] adds to the recommendation that we actually made in our interim report, that if you are actually doing this from a crime-prevention perspective, you would target it to where there’s a known problem,” Ransley said.

“There’s a known problem at the Gold Coast – at Surfers Paradise – and they’re proving that.”

Ransley compared the Gold Coast figures with Brisbane’s safe night precinct, where 22 people were charged after wanding – mostly with drug offences – but only two weapons were found, and said not all precincts should be treated the same.

Andrew Hemming, an associate law professor with the University of Southern Queensland, warned that the weapons seized by police were just the tip of the iceberg, as 3D-printed guns were mostly made of polymer plastics that might go undetected.

“It’s not going to be long before police are going to be wanding people and they’re going to be finding 3D guns,” he said.

‘These statistics hardly justify these laws’

Many people were being charged with drug offences, rather than for carrying weapons, said Queensland Council of Civil Liberties president Michael Cope.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the police are using these powers effectively to look for all sorts of other things, and so they’re not detecting large amounts of weapons,” he said.

“They’re ... subjecting people to arbitrary searches in public. And they’re not producing weapons charges. They’re producing drug offences.

“So it seems to us that these statistics hardly justify these laws.”

When asked whether they were satisfied with their results, Queensland police said the primary goal of Jack’s Law was deterrence and prevention, not the volume of charges.

“The detection of over 1100 weapons and the ability to intervene early is seen as a success,” police said.

“The charge rate reflects a targeted, intelligence-led approach, rather than indiscriminate scanning.”

The Queensland Police Service said it conducted wanding operations at authorised, relevant places if a weapons offence or violent offence had been detected in the area in recent months.

From July 18, police can use the scanners without senior officer authorisation, to proactively scan and detect the unlawful possession of knives in the community.

Over the weekend, Police Minister Dan Purdie joined Brett and Belinda Beasley – who have long advocated for the laws – and local officers on the Gold Coast to see wanding used outside prescribed places for the first time.

Officers would also be able to seek authorisation from a senior officer to use a hand-held scanner in a public place that was not defined as a relevant place for no more than 12 hours.

The government said that between April 2, 2023 – when Jack’s Law was introduced – to June 5 this year, 122,548 people had been scanned, 1190 weapons removed, 3248 people arrested, and 5932 charges laid.

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