PREVENTION A CURE FOR CRIME
After losing their son to a stabbing, the Beasleys pushed for a knife-wanding trial … and Gold Coast police say it’s such a success it’s caused a cultural shift
DAlmost 3500 tests and eight months later, a total of 72 weapons have been recovered, with 56 people charged.
riving away from the Beasley home in Parkwood, a wave of relief washes over me. The sadness in that home, which was bought for a family of four but now houses just three, is palpable.
The grief over the loss of Brett and Belinda’s 17-year-old son Jack, who was stabbed and killed in the streets of Surfers, is so heavy that it’s little wonder they sometimes feel like they’re suffocating beneath its weight.
And it’s why when I walk out their front door and get in my car, ready to drive back to my own home with my own two beautiful and healthy children, I can’t help but feel grateful for my own good fortune.
Following that sense of relief is a surge of both guilt and helplessness: I wish so much I could do something to reduce their pain, even as I’m so thankful to escape it.
The irony, of course, is that they are the ones who are reducing the risk of my own children one day being hurt.
Rather than being paralysed by their grief, the Beasleys are driven by it - forming the Jack Beasley Foundation to help reduce knife crime.
Their efforts are a major reason that Queensland Police have been conducting a knifewanding trial on the streets of our city.
And for that, Gold Coast Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman is grateful. Because it’s working. Launched on April 30 last year, police seized two weapons in the first weekend of the wanding trial in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.
Almost 3500 tests and eight months later, a total of 72 weapons have been recovered, with 56 people charged.
“That number is well below expectations,” says Acting Chief Superintendent Wildman.
“It’s not just the number of weapons that have rapidly reduced, it’s the reduction in knife-related offences during this trial. It’s working.
“We’re seeing a cultural shift … the young ones are getting it. Knives are not worth it.”
That’s a shift that bucks the international trend, with knife-related crime increasing around the world.
While it’s wonderful that we are leading this change, it does make me wonder why this took us so long.
After all, when the risk of carrying a knife is far greater than the risk of not … the result is as predictable as it is phenomenal.
Indeed, Supt Wildman says being able to search anyone at any time has been a game changer.
“We have had wands for a few years, they were purchased for the Surfers Paradise station some time ago, but officers needed to have reasonable suspicion a person was carrying a weapon to use them,” he says.
“Having a wand doesn’t add a lot of value without the ability to use it.
“But to be able to randomly select people is a real game changer, and we have not had one complaint regarding the police use of wanding powers.”
It’s just a tragedy that it took the Beasleys’ loss to make this city’s gain.
But thanks to them, this city is forging its own path to safer streets.
And they’re only just getting started.
With the one-year wanding trial wrapping up this May, when the results will then be analysed by Griffith University, the Beasleys want to see it extended and expanded - particularly on public transportation.
Supt Wildman says the trial already includes a sunset clause to allow its extension.
“Right now, wanding is limited to the Safe Night precincts,” he says. “If the public would like to see that expanded, there will be an opportunity to provide feedback as part of the trial.”
It’s the least we can do. Not just for our city and ourselves but the Beasleys.
Any relief we can give them is just a fraction of what their loss has given us.