Police are monitoring global trends of knife crime and considering how to address it in New Zealand. Photo / NZME
Police are developing a strategy to combat knife crime amid concerns that increased levels of knife violence in Britain and Australia could soon reach our shores.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell says he’s raised his concerns with police several times in recent months and is welcoming the strategy to address what he considers the impending reflection of international knife crime trends in New Zealand.
It comes after Mitchell’s recent meeting across the ditch with Australian police leaders, during which Western Australia’s dedicated gang task force was discussed - an idea the New Zealand minister appears open to.
Mitchell last week travelled to represent the Government at the Police Ministers Council meeting, which included state and territory police ministers and commissioners.
In a press release before the meeting, Mitchell said one reason for attending was to assess crime trends in Australia as they “tend to come to New Zealand’s shores soon after”.
Speaking to the Herald after his trip, Mitchell said he had observed knife crime becoming a “big problem” in Britain and Australia.
He had asked police for advice on the matter and was pleased they were working on a strategy to address that type of crime.
“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.”
A police spokesperson didn’t give much detail about the strategy, except to say police were working with the minister on the matter and were considering “current and emerging patterns of risk and how best to respond”.
In January, the Guardian reported knife crime in Britain had risen by 5 per cent in the year to September 2023, which had occurred alongside a notable increase in robberies involving a knife, up by 20 per cent.
The problem had become more acute in London. Data from Britain’s Office for National Statistics showed a 21 per cent increase in knife or sharp instrument incidents in the city between 2022 and 2023. Between January 2023 and January 2024, it increased 16 per cent.
The rise had become a political issue ahead of the upcoming election, much like retail crime such as ram raids became an area of public concern during New Zealand’s election as parties recognised law and order was a central issue people would vote on.
In Australia, the proportion of homicides caused by a knife or other sharp implements has risen to 43 per cent in the five years to 2021, according to Reuters.
Just this month, Sydney suffered two stabbings that attracted global attention. The first led to six people dying in a shopping mall at the hands of a man who was shot dead by police during the incident.
The second, just days later, allegedly involved a teenage boy stabbing a priest mid-sermon along with several bystanders at a church service. No lives were lost.
The issue of knife crime was raised in Parliament this week by Labour police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen, who attempted to question Mitchell’s ability to reduce levels of crime. She cited police data showing victimisations from incidents using a stabbing or cutting weapon in the Auckland city district had increased by 32 per cent since the coalition Government was formed.
Mitchell spoke of the increased number of officers on the street but accepted higher levels of knife crime abroad would “probably . . . arrive on our shores too”.
According to the same police data, there had been a 4.5 per cent increase in victimisations involving a stabbing or cutting weapon in the past five years.
“Knife crime and weapons have always been an issue for us as a country,” Mitchell told the Herald.
“I just want to make sure that that we don’t see a sudden increase or surge in terms of what they experience in the UK.”
Topics traversed during Mitchell’s Canberra meeting included Australia’s efforts to address family violence and the country’s plans to bring in a digital gun register in the next four years.
Mitchell said he would be discussing what he learned with Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children and for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence.
On the gun register, Mitchell said he supported New Zealand’s current firearms registry but acknowledged National’s commitment with Act to review it. Act had campaigned to scrap the registry.
His conversations also extended to policies targeting gangs. A bill was currently before select committee that proposed a public gang patch ban as well as giving police new powers to enforce non-consorting and dispersal orders.
They were modelled on powers available to Western Australia police, which had a specific task force that enforced those laws. Mitchell said he’d spoken with WA Police Minister Paul Papalia and Commissioner Col Blanch and both had expressed their satisfaction with the laws.
“They’ve had a huge success. They’re very, very happy with them,” Mitchell said.
While enforcement of the Government’s proposed powers was being developed by police, Mitchell appeared open to supporting a specific task force in New Zealand and encouraged police to “do whatever they have to do operationally to implement and make the law effective”.
Another of the Government’s central law and order policies was its commitment with New Zealand First to train 500 more police officers in the first two years.
Police officials have warned the policy’s timeframe was ambitious, given police’s struggles with recruitment and attractive offers for officers in Australia.
In January, Mitchell appeared to have pushed out the timeframe to three years but it was soon confirmed to be two years after an urgent meeting between National and NZ First after the latter learned of Mitchell’s comments.
However, Mitchell now wasn’t forthcoming about details concerning the timeline. When asked when the two years officially began, Mitchell refused to answer and claimed it was Budget-sensitive.
He did say he was committed to delivering 500 more police in two years.
That was the same language used by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who said this week he wanted to “add 500 more frontline police in the two years”.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis couldn’t explain why the timeframe outlined to achieve the policy written in a coalition agreement was Budget-sensitive, referring the Herald to Mitchell.
NZ First leader Winston Peters also referred the Herald to Mitchell but when asked whether he expected the policy’s timeframe to be honoured, he said: “How many press statements have you seen out there assuring you of that?”
Andersen believed recruitment challenges would make the two-year timeframe impossible.
“Police have told them repeatedly that it’s just not possible to deliver on the coalition promise of 500 in two years.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
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