On the beat for Operation Foil II: Cops seize 100 knives from streets
With the ‘postcode wars’ ongoing and the Easter Show fatal stabbing still unsolved, The Daily Telegraph joined police on their blitz as they took more than 100 blades off the streets.
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Young men joining gangs and causing chaos on Sydney’s streets are increasingly arming themselves with a knife and are doing so for one reason only: “To seriously harm someone or to kill.”
They are the words of senior police who spent last Thursday and Friday nights on the streets, seizing more than 110 blades and 21 firearms, and charging more than 232 people in a statewide operation.
Operation Foil II saw NSW Police particularly target males aged between 15 and 24 years old, who hang out in packs and have an association with “gang culture” — with the conflict widely referred to as postcode wars.
While a lot of police attention is given to the ongoing underworld war, this demographic is also a problem.
When Uati Faletolu was stabbed to death at the Easter Show in April, one of the first cops on the scene was Detective Inspector Andrew Evans and he was back out on the streets last week to lead the operation in the western suburbs of Sydney.
“The level of violence that they’re prepared to use has certainly escalated,” Det Evans said.
“A lot of the time it's for a trivial issue, being disrespectful on social media or you live in one location and I live in another.
“If someone’s armed with a knife, there’s only one reason they’re armed with a knife, and that’s to seriously harm someone or to kill.”
The Daily Telegraph was welcomed into the inner-sanctum of Operation Foil II, and the night begins with dozens of police filing into a meeting room at Bankstown Police Station for a briefing from Det Insp Evans and Sergeant Simon Telfer.
Police are given intelligence folders with the mugshots and addresses of known violent offenders, as well as detail about the likely hang out spots for young men with knives – “within 500 metres of train stations right across the state”.
The message to the officers is clear – get as many bladed weapons off the streets as you possibly can.
Work by police a few years back to target small convenience stores selling “Zombie knives” – whose serrated edges meant they could not be pulled out when someone was stabbed – has almost totally wiped them from the streets.
Det Insp Evans hopes eventually efforts like Operation Foil II will result in no knives being found.
“I’ve seen the damage that can be done with a knife. I’ve been to homicides where knives are used,” he said.
“What I’ve seen victims families go through … I hope that in 12 months time when we’ve run another two or three (Operation) Foil’s, I can say to the Police Commissioner (Karen Webb): ‘We were out for two nights and we didn’t get any weapons boss’.”
One of the first things that is noticeable when Det Insp Evans and Sergeant Telfer approach a group of five boys aged in their late-teens in the shadows of the Bankstown CBD is that they are both fathers.
Det Insp Evans is polite, while also explaining the operation and why he plans to search them for knives.
Despite one of the children in the group having previously been before court, no weapons are found and the engaging discussion soon turns to football.
It is an encounter that can only endear the police to the youngsters, something Det Insp Evans says is much more of a focus these days.
“I approach those kids at a very base level and if I need to I escalate from there,” he said.
“I think certainly the way that I police is influenced heavily by the fact that I’m a father and to a degree, the conversations that you have with these children need to be fatherly.
“Ninety five per cent of the kids that we will deal with in these two nights will be good kids, or good young adults, it will only be the five per cent that will choose to carry a knife.
“This week we’ve gone to 58 or 60 schools and done presentations to kids who are still in school about, you know, the consequences of carrying a knife and the long term consequences of stabbing someone.”
After that interaction there are several other vehicle searches for individuals who have a history of violence.
A pursuit of a stolen dirt bike through Campbelltown that involves Polair leads to multiple arrests and the discovery of a hidden knife.
Just as Operation Foil II efforts begin to ramp up in Sydney’s west, at the same time a massive find is being made in rural NSW.
When police searched Brett Rennie’s home near Armidale on Thursday they allegedly uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition.
Rennie was charged with 13 weapons related offences and faced Armidale Local Court on Friday where he was remanded in custody to reappear on September 7.
Both Police Minister Paul Toole and Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the rise of knife crime was particularly concerning because the age of those who are increasingly carrying them means they don’t understand how life changing their actions can be.
“Knife crime changes lives forever in an instant and police will continue to proactively target and arrest anyone who poses a threat to the safety of the community,” Mr Toole said.
“We’re trying to urge young people to think about the potential consequences of their actions, as one wrong decision can dramatically change your life,” Commissioner Webb said.
Don’t miss The War, an exclusive documentary series from The Daily Telegraph uncovering Sydney’s underworld - Episode 1 out now.
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