Police say they've carried out almost 1,700 searches and seized multiple weapons on the first weekend of a knife crackdown across major shopping centres. But children's rights advocates are urging the government to consider the negative impacts the legislation could have on young people.
00:00Days into a knife crime blitz, this weapon is the latest to be seized at a shopping centre.
00:09Police say a 31-year-old woman used the knife to allegedly threaten a security guard at Arndale in the western suburbs.
00:17It's one of five knives discovered since police were given powers last week to use metal detectors on shoppers across eight major centres.
00:26My government makes absolutely no apologies for having the toughest knife laws in the country.
00:31Over the weekend, police conducted more than 1,600 searches at Burnside Shopping Centre, seizing three knives, one from a 17-year-old boy.
00:41On the first day of the operation, a 15-year-old boy was charged after being found with a knife at Marion Shopping Centre.
00:48The state's Guardian for Children and Young People says authorities need to get the balance right between community safety and supporting children.
00:57If we don't understand why children are feeling that they need to carry weapons, then we might have a little bit of a problem.
01:06We need to sit back and ask a few questions in our community.
01:09Ms Reid says she's concerned the new legislation could unintentionally create pathways to youth detention.
01:15We need to invest in our children and not necessarily look at disciplining them for every decision or risk-taking activity that they have.
01:24Concerns have also been raised that minority groups will be targeted in the searches, but the Premier says he's seen no evidence of that over the weekend.
01:34What you saw was police using the new powers that we've given them to diminish the presence of knives in inappropriate locations.
01:42Tough new laws to curb crime in sharp focus.
01:49We've taken into accountants of tragic counties and a few points, but tôi is widely opened up today's
02:14Which is something that we have saved by a few points.
Be the first to comment