NT Police investigate wanding to reduce knife crime

Police are investigating new ways to detect hidden weapons following a string of stabbing tragedies. Read how another state has handled a similar situation.

Queensland-style knife crime reforms could be rolled out in the Territory following a spate of stabbings in the Top End.

Acting Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said on Tuesday that police were investigating whether handheld metal detectors, known as wands, could be used on Territory streets.

Mr Murphy said the proposal came after concerns about rising rates of edged weapon incidents.

“Over a number of years it’s become more prevalent,” Mr Murphy said.

“We’re looking at options to explore deterrents.”

Acting Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said on Tuesday that police were investigating whether handheld metal detectors, known as wands, could be used on Territory streets.

Mr Murphy said NT Police officers went to Queensland to observe how knife-crime reforms could be imported across the border.

Following the 2019 stabbing death of 17-year-old Jack Beasley at Surfers Paradise, Queensland introduced “Jack’s Law” giving police the power to search people in safe night precincts and public transport using handheld metal detectors, known as wands.

Mr Murphy said following discussions with their Queensland counterparts, NT Police were looking at how to model these laws in the Territory.

“The ability of police to engage in the type of search provisions actually made people disarm,” he said.

Over 450 people were wanded in Safe Night Precincts across Queensland over a weekend following Jack’s Law.

“They’re not actually being detected, they’re coming to precincts to disarm.”

Mr Murphy said police were developing a proposal to the Police Minister Kate Worden.

However, Mr Murphy said the driving forces behind people carrying knives was “complex”, with many traumatised and vulnerable people holding them as a trauma response.

“Carrying a weapon gives them a sense of power, feel protected,” he said.

“(There’s) some linkages to trauma, cognitive learning and domestic violence or otherwise.

“So I think there’s a deeper dive that needs to be done around what that looks like.”

Toowoomba police officer Constable Luke Bianchi holds a hand held metal detector used in police scanning. Picture: Kevin Farmer

It comes as police investigate after a 61-year-old man has been rushed to hospital after he was stabbed in the neck by an intruder during an alleged daylight robbery in the backyard of his Northern Suburbs home.

It also comes three days after a 43-year-old man was found bleeding out outside the Darwin Puma petrol station, on Smith St with a stab wound to his abdomen.

The 43-year-old was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious but stable condition on Sunday, and was discharged by Monday.

He was the sixth person to be stabbed in a public place in Darwin in the past three months.

Three weeks ago a bleeding woman ran into the DoubleTree Hilton after allegedly being stabbed in a domestic violent assault.

Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, who was in the lobby at the time, said she comforted the dying woman’s family, while her office staff joined hotel staff in aiding the victim before paramedics arrived.

That same night a 41-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were stabbed at Casuarina Shopping Centre, both sustained non-life threatening injuries.

In March 20-year-old bottle shop worker Declan Laverty was allegedly fatally stabbed minutes before he was due to finish his shift on Sunday March 19.

Mr Murphy said the Territory was still reeling from this string of “tragedies”, which exposed police officers, loved ones and the entire community to trauma.

“Police have been operating tirelessly in a very challenging environment,” he said.

Originally published as NT Police investigate wanding to reduce knife crime