Excerpt from Australasian Lawyer:
Legal bodies have pushed back against knife “wanding” legislation being pitched in NSW.
The proposed Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) and Other Legislation Amendment (Knife Crime) Bill 2024 would permit police to stop and search people in public without having to provide a specific reason.
…
Jonathon Hunyor, CEO of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, warned that implementing the proposed bill would only build mistrust.
“We have years of evidence showing that arbitrarily increasing police powers doesn’t result in safer communities. These laws will subject already over-policed communities to further targeting and harassment”, Hunyor said.
He suggested allocating more resources into “proven, community-led diversion programs”.
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