Victoria has handed police some of the most expansive knife-search powers in the country — including hand-held detection wands and the ability to declare entire precincts as searchable zones without individual suspicion. Here is what the laws actually say, how Victoria Police is deploying them, and why the debate around them is far from settled.
What changed — and when #
The centrepiece of Victoria’s expanded regime is the Control of Weapons Amendment (Serious Youth Violence) Act 2024, which passed the Legislative Assembly in late 2024 after months of political pressure following a series of high-profile public stabbing incidents across metropolitan Melbourne. The amendments built on existing provisions in the Control of Weapons Act 1990 (Vic) by adding two major tools: authorised wand searches and an enlarged declared search area (DSA) framework.
Under the wand-search provisions, Victoria Police officers at designated locations — including public transport hubs, major events and licensed-venue precincts — may now use a hand-held electronic metal detector to scan a person’s body for concealed weapons without needing to establish individual reasonable suspicion. Previously, a suspicion-based threshold applied before any such scan could occur. The change effectively imports a model similar to the one New South Wales introduced following the 2014 lockout-law era, though Victorian legal advocates argue the local version contains fewer procedural safeguards than the NSW equivalent.
How declared search areas work #
A declared search area is a geographically defined precinct in which police may stop and search any person for weapons without needing grounds specific to that individual. Under the amended act, a senior officer of or above the rank of inspector may declare an area for up to 12 hours; the declaration can be renewed. The declaration must be based on intelligence or information that serious weapons-related violence has occurred or is likely to occur in that location.
Victoria Police said in a statement in early 2025 that DSAs had been activated on multiple occasions since the powers commenced, primarily across the Melbourne CBD, St Kilda Road corridor and several outer-suburban train interchange precincts. The force has not published a full list of declarations, a gap that civil liberties groups say makes public scrutiny difficult. VCN understands through publicly available Victoria Police operational briefings that the Flinders Street Station precinct and sections of the Frankston and Dandenong rail corridors have been subject to at least one declaration each since the powers took effect.
What the data shows on knife offending #
The legislative push was driven in part by Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) figures showing a sustained increase in recorded knife-related offences. The CSA’s most recent annual report — covering the year to June 2024 — recorded 4,847 offences involving a knife or cutting instrument, up from 4,312 in the prior year. That represented a 12.4 per cent increase and the highest raw figure in a decade.
The CSA data also showed that knife-related assault offences were disproportionately concentrated in inner-Melbourne local government areas and in several growth-corridor municipalities, including Casey, Hume and Wyndham. Youth involvement was a recurring feature: the agency found that 31 per cent of persons alleged by police to have committed a knife offence during the reference period were aged between 14 and 24. Victoria Police said in a statement that those figures informed the decision to target DSA activations at transport hubs frequented by younger people during evening and late-night periods.
It is important to note that CSA figures record alleged offending and do not represent findings of guilt. All persons whose conduct is captured in offence statistics are presumed innocent unless and until a court makes a finding to the contrary.
How enforcement is playing out on the ground #
Victoria Police said in a statement that in the six months to March 2025 officers conducted more than 3,200 wand searches across declared and designated locations, with weapons located in approximately 4.8 per cent of those searches. The force described those results as consistent with comparable interstate programs and said the searches had led to a number of people being charged with weapons offences — though the precise charge figures have not been publicly released at the time of publication.
Officers conducting wand searches are required under the act to provide their name, rank and reason for the search on request, and must issue the person searched with a receipt documenting the time, location and outcome. VCN understands through sources familiar with the rollout that compliance with the receipt requirement has been inconsistent in the program’s early months, a concern the Law Institute of Victoria has flagged formally with the Attorney-General’s office.
The civil liberties debate #
Critics of the laws have been vocal since before royal assent. Liberty Victoria and the Law Institute of Victoria submitted jointly to the parliamentary inquiry that preceded the bill, arguing that suspicionless search powers carry a disproportionate risk of being applied in a racially discriminatory manner. They pointed to research from the UK’s Metropolitan Police and from NSW’s Law Enforcement Conduct Commission suggesting that stop-and-search powers consistently affect First Nations, African-Australian and Middle Eastern-Australian communities at rates far exceeding their share of the population.
The organisations called for a statutory requirement that Victoria Police publish quarterly disaggregated data on the demographic characteristics of people subjected to wand searches and DSA stops — a provision that was not included in the final legislation. A government spokesperson said at the time that the force’s existing equality and diversity obligations were sufficient. Victoria Police said in a statement that it was committed to impartial policing and that its professional standards command would monitor the use of the new powers.
Proponents, including the Police Association Victoria and a number of victims’ advocates, argued that the cost of inaction — measured in lives — outweighed the civil liberties concerns, and that targeted deployment in high-risk precincts would limit the breadth of any discriminatory impact. The debate has not resolved; it has simply moved from the parliament to the streets.
What the government and opposition say now #
The Allan government has defended the laws as a proportionate response to what it describes as an escalating public safety problem, pointing to the CSA figures and to community surveys showing high levels of concern about knife violence in public spaces. The government has also committed an additional $12 million over three years to a youth diversion and early intervention program administered through the Department of Justice and Community Safety, framing the enforcement powers and the prevention investment as complementary rather than competing approaches.
The Victorian opposition has broadly supported the enforcement measures while arguing the government was slow to act and that the diversion funding is inadequate given the scale of the problem. The Greens voted against the bill, arguing it would entrench racial profiling without evidence of effectiveness.
What to watch next #
The act includes a statutory review clause requiring the Attorney-General to commission an independent review of the wand-search and DSA provisions by December 2026. That review is expected to draw heavily on demographic data about how the powers have been exercised — data that, as things stand, the government has not committed to releasing proactively.
VCN will continue monitoring Victoria Police’s use of the new powers, including through freedom of information requests for DSA declaration logs and search-receipt records. If you have been subjected to a wand search or a stop in a declared area and wish to share your experience, you can contact our newsroom confidentially.
Community members with information about weapons offending can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at crimestoppersvic.com.au, anonymously and at any time.
Support contacts #
- Crime Stoppers Victoria: 1800 333 000 (24/7, anonymous)
- Lifeline: 13 11 14 (24/7 crisis support)
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
- 13YARN (First Nations crisis line): 13 92 76
- 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732 (family and sexual violence support)
- Safe Steps (family violence, Victoria): 1800 015 188
