Plain clothes police to monitor CBD streets as cops given search and seize powers for New Year’s Eve

Revellers heading to Melbourne CBD have been warned police will have extra powers to request you remove items from your pockets and take off clothing and face coverings.

Hundreds of plain clothes and uniform cops will be hunting down troublemakers across Victoria on New Year’s Eve, with revellers warned their goon bags will be emptied and illicit drugs seized as a crowd of half a million prepare to swarm the city centre.

All four city celebration zones located at Docklands, Flagstaff Gardens, Treasury Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance will be alcohol-free, with security ready to snatch wine bottles and beer slabs from partygoers and families.

Police will also be granted extra powers to search individuals, their bags and cars for weapons throughout the CBD, after Victoria Police announced the city would be declared a designated area.

A crowd of half a million people are set to swarm the city centre on New Year’s Eve. Picture: Getty

Between 3pm on New Year’s Eve and 3am on New Years morning officers will be able to request that you remove items from your pockets and take off clothing and face coverings.

Those suspected to be carrying weapons, including knives and machetes, can also be patted down, and in some instances strip searched.

Designated areas are only declared in exceptional circumstances, and are only permitted to last 12 hours.

St Kilda foreshore and the Geelong CBD have also been announced as designated areas for New Year’s Eve.

Police will also have a highly visible presence in Lorne and Mornington Peninsula.

Uniform and plain clothes officers, as well as wardens and security guards, will move through crime hotspots, and the four family-friendly celebration zones, which will feature local fireworks displays, DJs, and live entertainment.

Specialist squads will also be deployed across Victorian waterways, and public order response teams and the police air wing will be in operation.

Victoria Police superintendent Troy Papworth had a clear message for trouble makers who planned to come into the city to cause trouble.

“Don’t,” he said.

“You will be stopped, you will be searched and you will be charged.”

Uniform and plain clothes cops will hunt down trouble makers as 234 cameras keep watch of city streets. Photo: Getty

More than 230 cameras will be keeping an eye on festivities in the CBD, as 500,000 people crowd city streets ahead of the 9.30pm and 12am firework displays.

The city is forecast to be drenched in sunshine on Tuesday afternoon, with the temperature dropping to just 21 for the first round of fireworks and to 19 for the grand finale, which will be launched from 27 city rooftops.

Fires Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner Joshua Fischer warned Victorians to stay away from illegal fireworks after a 19-year-old Whittlesea man was killed earlier this week, and as fires rage across the state.

“It’s extremely dry so if these fireworks were to occur in areas where there’s grassland or dry bushland, we’re likely to see fires ignite,” he said.

“They’re going to spread very, very quickly.”

Those caught with illegal fireworks can face five years jail and thousands of dollars in fines.

Police Minister Anthony Carbines encouraged Victorians to travel into the city for the “biggest night of the year” but to celebrate safely and ring in the new year “the right way”.

“Full of promise and with some great memories,” he said.

Originally published as Plain clothes police to monitor CBD streets as cops given search and seize powers for New Year’s Eve