Education related knife offences rise 35 per cent

On average one knife related incident occurs each week within Queensland educational facilities, according to Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson. Figures were released following Monday’s tragic death of St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe, schoolboy Elliott Fletcher who was allegedly stabbed on school grounds.

Mr Atkinson has revealed police responded to 46 knife offences in the last financial year, which averaged out to be one a week while schools and University’s were operational.
The figure of 46 was not merely someone possessing a knife, rather a person offending with
This number was an increase of 35 per cent on related incidents compared to the previous financial year (34 incidents reported to police).

However, Mr Atkinson said on Brisbane radio 4BC the number of knife offences were not unreasonable given the statistic incorporated incidents within primary and secondary schools, University and TAFE facilities. “I can live with that,’’ he said in relation to the statistics.
But Mr Atkinson did say he was concerned the number of offences had risen from the previous year.

Source: WhereLive