91 unlawful weapons seized on NSW streets under knife wand powers

A mass crackdown on weapons has seen nearly a hundred tasers, knuckle dusters and slingshots seized on NSW streets under new powers enabling police to wand people at random.

Nearly a hundred weapons, including knuckle dusters, slingshots and tasers and an axe, have been seized in a three-month crackdown aimed at slashing knife crime across NSW.

The three-month high visibility task-force, named Operation Ares, has seen 91 weapons taken off the streets, as new legislation grants NSW police increased powers to stop and wand people at random.

Under the new laws, police can scan people at random for knives or weapons in “designated” locations – selected by an Assistant Commissioner or higher – such as train stations, buses, shopping centres and certain sporting venues.

Weapons seized include tasers, sling shots, knuckle dusters, machetes, folding and kitchen knives, and an axe.

So far, 34 operations have been conducted and 4147 people scanned, resulting in 67 people being charged with a total of 71 offences.

Some of the weapons seized under Operation Ares are on display

Some of the weapons seized under Operation Ares are on display.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Premier Chris Minns said “one in every 62 searches” resulted in a weapon being seized, a rate he described as “alarming”.

“It’s a regrettable fact that the most common way someone will lose their life in New South Wales is as a result of a knife brawl.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

“We need to make sure we’re taking steps wherever we can to reduce the instances of knife crime in our community, that means strong intelligence based, police work in our community.”

Mr Minns also said the desired outcome was for the legislation to have the same effect as “random breath testing”.

“When this begins to work a little bit like the introduction of random breath testing, you may see incidents of knives being confiscated by police. that’s a good thing,” Mr Minns said

The Premier also said a decline in the rate of knife related crime was to be expected in the near future.

“Our great hope is because the message has gone out, particularly to young people, that if you take a knife onto the streets of Sydney, there’s a fair chance you’ll be caught, so don’t take it out in the first place,” Mr Minns said.

“That means young people, individuals with bad intentions in our community are not taking knives out when they leave home,” he said

When asked by media about who was being targeted, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell said the searches were “purely random” and not based on gender or ethnicity.

“The operations are purely random, if you’ve watched one of the operations at any of the public places, train stations and shopping centres you’ll see they’re very random in nature and that’s deliberate,” he said

“When we set out operating procedures for this legislation we were very clear that it is not to be used to target particular races or age groups.”

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