KNIFE CRIME UP 63%
WANNABE GANGSTERS
SENIOR Gold Coast police are sick of wannabe gangsters and young thugs carrying knives as the number of crimes involving bladed weapons has spiked 63 per cent in five years.
Half of the attacks were committed by people under 25.
Of those, 81 per cent of offenders were male and 67 per cent were from the Gold Coast.
In the last 12 months alone, three teenagers – Harrison Geppert, 17, Jack Beasley, 17, and Cian English, 19 – have died after being stabbed. Numerous others have been stabbed, threatened and robbed at knifepoint.
Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said people using knives need to realise there is no second chance.
“This is not Grand Theft Auto, there is no reset button,” he said.
“The consequences are long-lasting, people die and the offenders go to jail for a long time.
“It’s a case of one person has a knife, so the other person thinks they’ve got to have a knife to protect themselves.
“There’s that real gangster mindset of ‘hey it’s cool to have a knife’, and the only way we’re going to change that is to have peers say ‘it’s not’, because I don’t think they’re going to listen to us.
“You see this happening all around the world. England is having a significant issue with it and obviously we’ve got an issue with it.
“Myself and my team are sick of it. These crimes have broader impacts, not only on the victims and their family, but also emergency services and members of the public who witness it.”
Supt Smith said police had thrown their support behind the Jack Beasley Foundation and its education campaign.
“It’s about changing the mindset of our young people. We’ve had some success around drink driving, with the ‘bloody idiot’ campaign.
“It’s no longer socially acceptable, so we need to get our younger people to say to their peers, ‘hey, don’t be an idiot’.
“We’re 100 per cent behind the Jack Beasley Foundation and the work they’re trying to do in educating young people about the dangers of knife crime.”
Jack Beasley’s dad Brett yesterday told the Bulletin the foundation was working hard to get into schools to help educate teens about the consequences of knife crime.
“Is it getting to the point where you come to Surfers Paradise and you can’t take your eyes off your 15, 16-yearold kids in case they get stabbed to death,” he said.
“These figures show that something needs to be done. How many more statistics need to come out before something happens, because this is alarming?
“Unfortunately, our son was one of those statistics. If we can save one kid, or stop one kid from stabbing another kid, that’s the job done.
“Detect knives, save lives. We need to detect these kids to stop this.”
THIS IS NOT GRAND THEFT AUTO, THERE IS NO RESET BUTTON. THE CONSEQUENCES ARE LONGLASTING, PEOPLE DIE AND THE OFFENDERS GO TO JAIL
DETECTIVE SUPERINTENDENT BRENDAN SMITH