Today the Northern Territory Parliament will debate stronger NT Police powers to stop and search individuals for knives and other weapons unlawfully possessed in public places.
The Territory Government has listened to Police and the experts, and are today proposing amendments to the Police Administration Act, which will authorise police to use handheld scanners to detect, seize and destroy weapons being carried by individuals – also known as wanding.
With this, Government has also announced additional high risk areas where Police have the power to use new wanding powers and issue banning notices. These locations correlate with high risk alcohol areas which we know fuel alcohol related crime.
Identified through police monitoring and data surveillance, these areas include Karama precinct, Parap precinct, Fannie Bay precinct, Bundilla Beach precinct, Leanyer precinct, Stuart Park precinct, Marrara precinct, Malak precinct, Nightcliff precinct, and the Nightcliff foreshore precinct.
All CBD districts across the Territory are already high risk areas including, Darwin, Casuarina, Katherine, and Tennant Creek. High risk areas for the Palmerston CBD precinct and the Alice Springs precinct have also been updated.
This brings the total high risk areas across the Territory to sixteen.
Persons who are caught engaging in crime, anti-social behaviour, alcohol-fuelled violence or those who refuse to leave a premises can be banned from entering high-risk areas for up to 14 days.
Along with high risk areas, public transport facilities, public transport vehicles and a suspected offence area, will be areas where wanding can take place.
