A MAJOR police operation throughout NSW has targeted knife crime across the state. Operation Foil ran from 1pm Thursday 11 April 2024 until 1:30am Saturday 13 April 2024, and 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, target knife crime and anti-social behaviour.

During the high visibility operation 51 knives/weapons were seized with 145 people charged with weapon related offences, including seizure of a firearm.

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.

Police also performed almost 5000 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 3200 at-risk youths across NSW, and deliver anti-violence presentations to 987 schools, educating more than 180,000 students.

Detective Superintendent Darren Newman, Operations Manager North-West Metropolitan Region 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,” said Darren Newman.

“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.

“We have also been working with our colleagues from Youth Command as part of Operation Pivot in attending schools and speaking with kids to deter them away from knife crime.

“Operations of this nature will continue to be run by police,” said Superintendent Newman.