SA Police new knife search power’s labelled Australia’s toughest as they come into forc

The new laws came into effect today and SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said police would have their target areas “quite quickly”.

The first phase of new knife laws – dubbed the toughest in the nation – have come into effect in South Australia.

It comes in the wake of a spate of stabbings across metropolitan Adelaide in recent days.

The new laws give the Police Commissioner the authority to declare certain places as locations where officers will be empowered to conduct metal detector searches, or wanding.

These places are expected to include shopping centre precincts and public transport hubs and the declarations will remain in place until they are revoked.

Events, and even unexpected large crowd gatherings, can also be temporarily declared for six hours.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said work was underway to determine which areas would be targeted by the new laws.

“Some will be relatively straightforward and we’ll have them quite quickly,” he said.

“Others will be based on an assessment of, crowd volume, crowd behaviour, recent reported crime, those sorts of things.”

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens. Picture: RoyVPhotography.

The reforms also give police the ability to wand certain people, including those who have previously been convicted of offences such as murder, manslaughter, causing harm, shooting at police, possessing an object with intent to kill or main or possessing a firearm with the intent to commit an offence.

Until now, officers were only able to conduct such searches on these people if they had reasonable cause to suspect they had or would commit a crime.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher described the knife law reforms as “the toughest knife laws anywhere in the country”.

“While there has not been any significant increase in knife-related crimes, it is important that police are equipped with the necessary powers to prevent such incidents from occurring,” he said.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher. Picture: Matt Loxton

Treasurer Stephen Mullighan on the steps of Parliament House, with details of a new Liberal scandal set to rock the Black by-election. 10 November 2024. Picture Dean Martin

Police Minister Stephen Mullighan said the laws would provide “greater comfort to the community”.

Shopping Centre Council of Australia chief executive Angus Nardi welcomed the powers.

“Any proposal which seeks to remove dangerous weapons from people that may seek to threaten, intimidate or cause serious harm to the community is welcome,” he said.

Work is underway to roll out further phases of the knife laws, which will include a new offence of supplying a knife to a minor, age limits on the sale of knives and new requirements for the storage of knives in shops.

The laws follow four alleged stabbing incidents in the past seven days.

A man was allegedly stabbed at Smithfield Plains in the early hours of Friday morning. His injuries are non life-threatening and a woman has been charged over the incident.

In an unrelated incident, a woman was allegedly stabbed with a fork during a brawl involving five people in Adelaide’s CBD on Tuesday night.

And in another separate incident, a man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing his stepbrother in Elizabeth Park on Tuesday afternoon.

On Saturday morning, two people were allegedly stabbed during an altercation in Morphett Vale. The injuries were not considered life-threatening and police believe four people forced their way into a property and an altercation occurred.

Two people have so far been arrested over the incident, which is not related to the other recent stabbing incidents.

Originally published as SA Police new knife search power’s labelled Australia’s toughest as they come into forc