Gold Coast police launch ‘I Live My Life Without a Knife’ campaign
The parents of a teenager stabbed to death in Surfers Paradise have helped launch a new campaign to combat knife crimes, with Schoolies set to be targeted.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Schoolies will be ‘wanded’ around the clock by Gold Coast police armed with metal detectors in a bid to combat stabbings and other knife crime.
A 12-month ‘wanding’ trial in the Glitter Strip party precincts of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach is being ramped up for Schoolies which starts later this month.
Police on Thursday revealed they had arrested 95 people on 122 charges and seized more than 50 weapons including axes, swords and large knives during the first six months of the trial.
Alarmingly, they said children as young as 13 were being caught with knives.
The trial only operates on weekends but Coast police acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman said officers would be ‘wanding’ Schoolies revellers 24 hours a day during the festival.
It follows a wave of bikie-related violence on the Gold Coast last weekend including five stabbings.
Supt Wildman revealed that last Saturday, police had caught a 30-year-old man at Broadbeach armed with a knife and replica gun.
Brisbane-raised former NFL star Jesse ‘The Monster’ Williams has lent his weight to the ‘I Live My Life Without a Knife’ campaign which has been launched by police and the Jack Beasley Foundation.
Brett and Belinda Beasley, whose teenage son Jack was stabbed to death in Surfers Paradise in December 2019, said knife violence had to stop.
“We lost our son to a senseless act of knife violence,” Mr Beasley told reporters.
“I urge all parents to go home today and just spend 10 minutes with their kids. Just talk to them about the importance of not carrying a knife.
“What they see in the movies they can’t do in real life. What they play on the Xbox and on the video games cannot be done in real life.”
Originally published as Gold Coast police launch ‘I Live My Life Without a Knife’ campaign
How Kiwis did smart ticketing in two years while Brisbane waits
New Zealand will go live with its smart ticketing system from this week, after only two years of work. Back in Brisbane, bus commuters still have a wait ahead of them.
Elderly landlord battles council over cutting down dangerous tree
An 85-year-old woman claims Brisbane City Council’s refusal to allow the removal of a dangerous 35m tree on her rental property is financially crippling her.