Ditch the ‘gangster attitude’

AN “angry” top Gold Coast police officer at his wits’ end with knife crime deaths says relatable young “peer” influencers should be deployed to combat it.

South Eastern Police Regional Crime Coordinator Brendan Smith said the “gangster attitude” needed to change.

Raymond Harris, 27, was allegedly fatally stabbed in the torso outside the Surfers Paradise Beer Garden after the stabbing deaths in Surfers of teenager Jack Beasley outside the IGA in December and Nicholas Braid, 35, in April, outside Beachcomber.

It is a year since the stabbing death of teenager Harrison Geppert in Varsity Lakes.

“Consequences are getting worse. Years ago people would get full of grog and fight, fisticuffs,” Supt Smith said.

“Now people are using weapons. We’re seeing consequences of that and it is pure luck, a millimetre here, centimetre there, you are going to die. There needs to be conversation among people that age … they are not going to listen to me, it needs to come from peers. They need to hear from their peers, ‘don’t be an idiot’.

Supt. Smith said programs used celebrities: “Influencers, we need to use their power to get the message across. We have a family grieving the loss of a loved one. Even from the (alleged) offenders’ families, those males and families will feel the consequences for years.

“The gangster attitude needs to change. We had success around drink driving, making it socially unacceptable.”

In five years, Coast knife crime has spiked 63 per cent. Half were committed by people under 25.

Allen & Searing Criminal Lawyers director Jodi Allen said she had seen an increase in clients caught with a knife.

“Most say it’s for their own protection because they’re concerned for their safety.”

Potts Lawyers director Bill Potts: “The trouble with carrying any weapon is they tend to be used as offensive rather than defensive objects.”