By Jessica Haynes
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SA Police conducted more than 1,600 metal detector searches at Burnside Village at the weekend, but the state’s Guardian for Children and Young People says officials need to “get the balance right” amid a crackdown on knife crime.
On Friday, SA Police announced Declared Public Precincts at eight shopping centres in metropolitan Adelaide, including Burnside Village and Arndale Shopping Centre, which allow officers to search people and remove them from the site.
The announcement followed laws passed earlier this year which allow police to declare public precincts to tackle crime.
Guardian for Children and Young People Shona Reid said it was important to question why children were carrying knives in the first place.
“I think it’s really important that we get the balance right between community safety and supporting our children who feel that they need to carry knives whether it’s for their own protection,” she said.
Ms Reid also said she worried that the creation of the new laws might result in “unintentionally… creating a pathway to a youth detention centre that we don’t want to do”.
“We need to invest in our children and not necessarily look at disciplining them for every decision or risk-taking activity that they have,” she said.
“We’re a community, these are children and we should work together to be able to support them so they can make better decisions about how they interact with the community.”
Calls for education on new laws
Ms Reid said it was important to ensure that “appropriate education” was provided to children about the new laws.
“I look forward to seeing the government’s strategy around how they communicate these new laws not just to the grown-ups and to the law enforcers, but also to the children who may be impacted by these new pieces of legislation,” she said.
More than 1,600 searches at Burnside
SA Police said it conducted 1,692 metal detector searches at Burnside Village.
On Friday, police allegedly seized a knife from a 15-year-old boy during an operation at Marion Shopping Centre.
Police allegedly seized knives from a 17-year-old boy, a 25-year-old man and a 43-year-old man during the operation at Burnside Village.
A 31-year-old woman was charged after allegedly threatening a security guard with a knife on Sunday at Arndale Shopping Centre.
SA Police has previously said it was considering other potential sites to be Declared Public Precincts.
