Knife crime Gold Coast: Senior police speak out against growing concerns about knife crime
A senior Gold Coast detective is worried his officers increasingly risk serious injury as they respond to more violent offences involving knives.
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A SENIOR Gold Coast detective is worried his officers increasingly risk serious injury as they respond to more violent offences involving knives.
Separately, Queensland Police Union representative appears to suggest judges are too soft on knife possession – and the union has called for metal detecting wands to be rolled out across the whole state as a “necessary evil to keep innocent people safe”.
Gold Coast Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith spoke out after five out of nine alleged Gold Coast murders in the past year involved knives.
Every person charged in relation to the alleged knife-related deaths is aged under 21.
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Det Supt Smith said: “I don’t want my officers to be put at risk by people carrying knives at night, or anytime.”
“People get intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, they get into some sort of confrontation and the next thing you know they’ve got a knife in their hand and someone could be dead.”
Det Supt Smith and his colleagues have been working to drive down knife crime on the Gold Coast, particularly involving young people.
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One initiative being explored is the use of celebrities and social media influencers to drive a change in youth culture and stop altercations devolving into brutal stabbings.
“It’s always a concern that we’ve got people that wander the streets thinking it’s an appropriate thing to have a knife,” Det Supt Smith said.
“The Gold Coast is one of the safest places in Australia and the mindset to carry a knife is something I don’t understand – I don’t get where they’ve got this idea that it’s needed.”
Andy Williams, regional representative for the south east, wrote in the union’s Police Journal that a rollout of detecting wands, similar to those used at some airports and sports stadiums, was a “small price to pay to save a life”.
“Knives are easy to buy, carry, and pass around. When tempers are high it is too easy to reach for a knife and act with devastating consequences,” he said.
“These searches are intended to locate weapons, and in my opinion, manage the civil rights of a person with the rights of the public to be safe in a public place.
“I suggest giving police the ability to use a metal detector to wand persons in a public place.
“A person would remove the contents of their pockets, have a metal detector run over their person, and if nothing was triggered, go about their business.
“The public will need to accept random weapon checks in the same way they accept random breath tests.”
Police in Surfers Paradise are already using wands to detect knives.
Mr Williams appears to suggest magistrates have been too quick to accept excuses for the possession of knives.
“Our Magistrates, sitting safe behind their metal detectors and security staff, are all too willing to accept someone possessing a hunting knife for the purpose of fishing, or cutting an orange,” he said.
In the Police Journal, Mr Williams also said “very few” union members were not impacted “by the impost of out of control juveniles”.
Mr Williams was contacted for additional comment.
Originally published as Knife crime Gold Coast: Senior police speak out against growing concerns about knife crime