Operation Foil saw more than 800 officers from every Police Area Command and Police District in NSW, assisted by specialist officers from Youth Command, Police Transport and Public Safety Command and Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, targeting knife crime and anti-social behaviour.
Additionally, police detected a number of breaches, including 51 people arrested over outstanding warrants, 170 drug detections, 1,065 traffic infringement notices issued and 410 rail infringement notices issued. There were also almost 5,000 random breath tests and 469 bail compliance checks.
Operation Pivot was also run in conjunction with Operation Foil, and is an initiative to reduce crime through early intervention and engagement with young people.
Since it began in 2021, Operation Pivot has seen police engage with more than 3,200 at risk youths across NSW, and deliver anti-violence presentations to 987 schools, educating more than 180,000 students.
North-West Metropolitan Region’s Operations Manager, Detective Superintendent Darren Newman, said the aim of Operation Foil was to remove weapons from the streets and make the community safer.
“Operation Foil was established to focus on knife crime and to get these dangerous weapons out of the hands of those individuals who may potentially use them to target other people,” he said.
“People need to understand that carrying a knife is illegal unless you have a justifiable reason. If you are armed with a knife and become involved in an altercation where someone is injured or even killed, you can face a substantial prison sentence.”
Blitz on knife crime
POLICE will continue to target knife crime and anti-social behaviour, with 51 knives/weapons taken off the streets during a two-day state-wide operation this month.
