The Queensland Police Service has introduced a new crime prevention campaign aimed at reducing knife carrying and knife-related crime among young people.
The move follows statistics showing knife-related offences in public have increased by 33 per cent compared to 2016.
The campaign, titled I Live My Life…Without a Knife, follows a successful trial in Logan in 2019 which saw a sustained 23 per cent decrease in knife-related crime in the district.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the campaign was focused on prevention, with the aim of influencing the values of young people, educating them on the laws and empowering them to make the right choices.
“As police, we see all too often the devastating consequences of knife-related crime in our community. When we analysed the data, we saw that most of the knife crime in the State was related to young people carrying knives,” Commissioner Carroll said.
“Often, the excuse provided to police by people carrying a knife was to protect themselves. We know that unfortunately, much of the time, it’s not the case.”
She said knives were frequently used to commit serious crimes, so the campaign aimed to empower people to make the choice of not carrying a knife.
Commissioner Carroll said the campaign would work hand-in-hand with police enforcement activity across the State to tackle youth knife crime from multiple angles.
“We know that we have to come at these issues from multiple angles, but it’s here in the prevention space that we have the opportunity to see real long-term change by influencing values,” she said.
“By raising awareness of the rules and showing the impacts of knife-related crime, we hope we can empower young Queenslanders to make the right decisions and ultimately stay safe.”
