Reducing knife crime
Reducing knife crime
On 30 March 2012 the Associate Minister for Justice, the Hon Chester Borrows, launched the SAFE campaign together with the New Zealand Retailers Association.
SAFE is a Government initiative - led by the Ministry of Justice - to promote the safe storage, display and sale of knives in retail stores.
SAFE stands for:
S Store & display safely
A Ask if concerned
F Focus on preventing theft
E Educate employees
The Ministry of Justice's Social Policy and Justice Unit has produced a range of SAFE campaign materials for retailers, with the help of the New Zealand Retailers Association.
The materials, which include a poster, brochures for staff and store owners and a point-of-sale sticker, can be downloaded from the New Zealand Retailers Association website at www.retail.org.nz.
The SAFE campaign is part of a package of initiatives to reduce the risk of knife crime in New Zealand. This work is being undertaken by the Ministry of Justice, the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Social Development.
The other initiatives are:
- education in schools on the dangers of carrying knives
- using Fresh Start programmes to prevent knife offending and re-offending
- increasing the penalty for possession of an offensive weapon from two to three years imprisonment,under the Crimes Amendment Act (No 3) 2011, which came into force on 19 March 2012, and
- improving information sharing between justice sector agencies.
Background papers
Cabinet paper: Reducing Knife Crime (released 5 July 2010)
The Minister of Justice has announced a package of initiatives to reduce knife crime. These measures are aimed at reducing the number of young people carrying knives, reducing knife-related offending, increasing public safety, and sending a clear message that carrying knives in public will not be tolerated.
These initiatives are discussed in the paper Reducing Knife Crime.
Briefing to the Minister of Justice on knife possession (released 24 June 2010)
In response to recent concerns about young people carrying knives the Minister of Justice requested a Ministry report on the issue.
The report covers the laws relating to knife possession, data on offence trends over the past decade and initiatives that have been taken in the UK to reduce knife crime. The report suggests a number of actions that the Government may wish to take to reduce the number of young people carrying knives.
