‘No excuse’: Crackdown to take ‘knives off streets’
Strengthened knife laws introduced to parliament on Tuesday are set to expand the ability of Victoria Police to crack down on knife crime through searches and seizures.
Victorian law gives police the power to search and seize weapons without a warrant only in designated areas that have previously experienced a violent incident when it is likely that violence will occur at the site again.
The Terrorism (Community Protection) and Control of Weapons Amendment Bill 2024 will give police the power to declare a designated area in advance of violence taking place so police can respond to new intelligence and evolving situations.
“We’re getting knives out of the hands of criminals and off our streets. There’s no excuse for anyone to be carrying one around in everyday life and these enhanced police powers will ensure opportunistic offenders are held to account,” Police Minister Anthony Carbines said.
Previously, when these designated search areas were centred around an event, these warrantless search powers were only operational during the event itself.
Under the proposed expanded powers, the Chief Commissioner will be able to nominate times before and after an event where police can also exercise search powers within the designated area.
“These new laws will give police the flexibility they’ve asked for to respond to emerging situations based on intelligence that there is a risk of violence at an event,” Mr Carbines said.
The Bill is also set to reduce the minimum time between police designating areas from 10 days to 12 hours and expand the operational time of these areas from 12 to 24 hours.
While these areas were previously required to be published by police in a daily Victorian newspaper, the Bill will remove this requirement, with notices instead being published online.