An independent MLC has criticised the state government for dragging its feet on the rollout of metal-detecting wands for police, following the alleged weekend murder of a young man in Hobart.
The 20-year-old man died at the Royal Hobart Hospital after allegedly being stabbed in a Salamanca car park on Saturday night.
Bec Thomas said it was “deeply disappointing” that, four months after parliament passed laws giving police search-wand powers, those laws had “still not translated into action on the ground”.
Thomas said the government should have found the money to purchase the equipment after its unsuccessful state budget earlier this year.
Each metal-detecting wand costs about $400.
“If this government were truly serious about community safety, it would have re-prioritised its resources following the failed budget and found the savings required to purchase and roll out detection wands,” she said.
“This would have shown it is serious about getting knives off our streets and preventing knife crime. This is what it ought to do right now.”
Police Minister Felix Ellis blamed the delay on the July state election, saying funding is already set aside and will be released once November’s budget passes.
He said the government allocated $3.7 million in the May budget towards more wands, along with new tasers and ballistic vests.
“… In next week’s budget we’ll be … providing our hardworking police officers with the tools they need to continue being the best in the nation,” he said.
Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar said officers still have access to 15 wands distributed statewide as part of a trial earlier this year.
He said police have arrested more than 300 people since April for possessing knifes and other dangerous articles – whether wands were used or not.
“Since that wand trial concluded … we have still been out actively policing the legislation under the Police Offences Act,” he said.
“We are out searching people, we are seizing dangerous articles and we are holding people to account in the community.”
Bodnar said police “hope to roll out more devices on a more permanent basis” soon.
“I just want to reassure the community that we are actively policing that legislation, we are searching people where necessary and we are seizing and retaining these dangerous objects,” he said.
Thomas said there have been at least 14 publicly reported incidents of violence involving young people across greater Hobart since April.
“How many so-called ‘isolated incidents’ of violent crime will it take before we stop calling them isolated?” she said.
She has proposed a 10-point plan including reviews of the Youth Justice Act and bail laws, more police on the streets and tighter restrictions on knife sales to minors.
When parliament resumes next week, Thomas said she would again seek answers from the government on youth offending.
“Tasmanians deserve answers and action,” she said.
