Police keep a 'close eye' on what's happening in other countries when it comes to knife crime.
New Zealand police continue to monitor knife crime trends worldwide while other jurisdictions introduce tough new laws.
After meeting with Australian counterparts last year, Police Minister Mark Mitchell raised concerns about increased levels of knife violence overseas with police here.
He said at the time crime trends “tend to come to New Zealand’s shores soon after”.
He had asked the police for advice on the matter and was pleased to find out they were working on a strategy to address it.
“I just want to make sure that we are proactive and we do all that we can as a country to make sure that we don’t end up in a situation like that,” he said.
But, no such specific strategy exists.
Police are “monitoring, keeping a close eye” on what’s happening overseas, and will “continue to closely monitor this”.
What they’re monitoring is reported offending involving “a stabbing or cutting weapon” – involved in the likes of serious assaults or aggravated robberies.
Between December 2023 and December 2024, there were 1639 of these incidents – a 1.7% decrease from the year before.
While New Zealand has not seen attacks like the Bondi Junction attack in Sydney, where the attacker stabbed 16 people in three minutes, killing six – it hasn’t been immune.
The New Lynn terror attack saw five people stabbed. Months earlier, several people were stabbed in a frenzied attack at a Dunedin Countdown.
Same as New Zealand, South Australia hasn’t seen spikes in knife crime either but has decided to bring in the harshest knife laws in the country.
The state’s Attorney-General Kyam Maher told The Front Page they were keen to do everything they could.
“Firstly, it’s making sure police have a whole lot of new power to detect people who might have knives and that’s the wand metal detectors being able to use them in a whole range of different settings without suspicion, which they can’t at the moment, but also, ways to restrict the availability of knives.
" That will include things like a whole range of knives needing secure storage in stores. Can’t just be taken off a shelf. They have to be in a locked cabinet. And restricting, without any exemptions, the sale of knives to people under the age of 18. And then further offences for adults who supply knives to children," he said.
Maher said while they haven’t seen any significant increase in knife crime in South Australia, most people there “witness with some degree of distress well-publicised incidents in the eastern states.”
“We have had a tradition in South Australia of having the toughest laws in Australia in relation to knife crime. So, we wanted to make sure we keep up that mantle so that we’re making South Australia as safe as possible.”
NZ Police acting Deputy Commissioner Mike Pannett told The Front Page they are working on it and constantly keeping the minister’s office and partner agencies informed.
“Knife crime figures are actually relatively stable and have been over the last five years. But, anecdotally, we are very closely monitoring areas that have increased a little bit. We’re talking some city centres, particularly Auckland, and some of our provinces, in particular Napier, Hastings, and Hawke’s Bay, where we have seen a slight upturn in knife crime.
“Also noting the presence of knives in a number of robberies. That’s something that’s probably changed - that we are seeing the emergence of knives like machetes and larger weapons being used in robberies. So we’re very closely monitoring that,” he said.
Pannett points to New Zealand’s “crowded places strategy” as part of the police’s work to protect against an attack in an easily accessible place. This can be at sporting arenas, transport hubs, public transport, and shopping centres.
“We are certainly working with retailers. We’re certainly working with other agencies to make sure that we are aware of the dynamics of knife crime, and how knives can be used not only for terrorist events but for attacks in public places, and crowded places,” he said.
After our Police Minister Mark Mitchell visited his Australian counterparts last year, he raised concerns with police that increased levels of knife violence in Britain and Australia could soon reach our shores.
In the year to September 2023, the Guardian reported knife crime in Britain has risen by 5%. Last September, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer held a summit to tackle the issue and pledged to halve it over the next decade.
In January, Starmer promised tougher rules on online knife sales after the Southport murders - where an 18-year-old bought a knife online that he would then use to kill three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. The new laws would require two types of identification when making such a purchase.
The UK House of Commons received a briefing on knife crime in January, which reported in the year ending March 2024, there were around 50,500 offences involving a sharp instrument in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester). This was 4.4% higher than in 2022/23.
The main offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded in 2023/24 were assault with injury and intent to cause serious harm (43.9%) and robbery (42%).
In Australia, the number of homicides caused by a knife or other sharp implements had risen to 43% in the five years to 2021, according to Reuters.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about how NZ Police are tackling knife crime here.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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