The state government plans to get knives off Victorian streets and out of the hands of criminals with strengthened laws introduced into Parliament that will give Victoria Police more powers to crackdown on knife crime.
The Bill, introduced on Tuesday November 26, will allow police to search and seize weapons without a warrant with less notice and for longer periods of time.
Currently, the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police can only declare a planned designated area in a place that has previously seen violence including with a weapon – this allows police to search people and vehicles in that area.
Designated areas can cover places like train stations, shopping centres or events.
This Bill will give police another power to make a planned designated area declaration. Now a declaration will be able to be made where intelligence suggests there is a likelihood that violence involving the use of weapons will occur – so police can respond to new intelligence and evolving situations.
Restrictions requiring police to only exercise powers to search without a warrant for weapons during the exact timing of an event will also be lifted. Instead, the Chief Commissioner will be able to nominate specified times before and after an event where they can also exercise search powers within the designated area.
This will allow planned event declarations to operate for longer periods of time during critical periods while crowds gather and disperse before and after events.
The minimum time between declaring planned designated areas will also be reduced from 10 days to 12 hours – ensuring that criminals can’t evade police searches.
Additionally, the maximum time a designated area can operate will increase from 12 hours to 24 hours. This will ensure police can maintain a presence at public events for longer, to keep the community safe.
The Bill will also remove the requirement for notices of planned designated areas to be published in a daily Victorian newspaper, these will now be published on the Victoria Police website.
“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,” Minister for Police Anthony Carbines said.
“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.”
