Sydney’s knife problem laid bare in first five minutes as cops wield new powers
It took just five minutes for NSW Police to find their first knife at Central Station on Thursday. What else they found will shock you.
NSW
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The full scale of Sydney’s knife problem has been laid bare within an hour of police putting their new wanding powers into action at Central Station.
Three knives, two tasers and a slingshot were seized by NSW Police officers just on Thursday afternoon, just days after they were granted new handheld scanning powers to crackdown on knife crime.
Highlighting the seriousness of the issue, the first blade was discovered hidden on a person within five minutes of operation beginning.
Police will be out in force at Central Station on Thursday, with Assistant Commissioner Stephen Hegarty saying the focus for him was on minimising the violence that has required the knife laws to be introduced.
“In this field that we are in right now, in the public mind, it’s all about reducing violence offences, reducing knives and weapons on the network and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Under the new powers, police are able to use metal-detecting wands to search for knives in public places such as train stations, shopping centres, sporting venues or late-night entertainment hubs.
It is NSW’s version of what is known as “Jacks Law” in Queensland.
The law enables police officers to stop and scan individuals in designated areas without a warrant to look for illegal knives, as long as the area is somewhere knife crime has previously occurred.
Train and light trail passengers could be seen being stopped by officers as they walked through the train station and outside promenade.
On top of the knives, tasers and slingshot – complete with pellets – police also seized syringes during a search of one woman’s belongings, which were strewn along the station floor by officers.
The new wanding powers can be turned on in areas designated by a senior police officer of the rank of assistant commissioner or higher, and will last for 12 hours.
Thursday’s operation at Central Station runs from midday to midnight.
NSW purchased around 120 new metal detector wands to aid them in the extra work.
Knife crime has become an increasingly topical issue in recent years, beginning with the fatal stabbing of Uati “Pele” Faletolu at the Royal Easter Show in 2022 and then more recently earlier this year, when six people were stabbed to death at Bondi Junction Westfield.
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