The Offence of Custody of a Knife in a Public Place or School in NSW

The New South Wales Police Force carried out a two-day wanding blitz across the state last weekend, which saw 4,436 members of the public wanded for knives. The operation led to more than 150 people being charged with a total of 360 charges. Of 108 prohibited items that were located, 85 were knives, resulting in those in possession being criminally charged with the offence of having custody of a knife in public place.

The operation

Operation Foil is a recurring high-visibility policing strategy that targets knife crime, violent offenders and possession of weapons in public places. The recent 36-hour blitz commenced at 1 pm on Thursday, 24 September 2026, and it ended at 1 am on Saturday, 26 September 2026. More than 500 police officers from across the state were involved, with support provided by specialist units.

The power to wand without reasonable suspicion

Wanding is the late 2024-introduced NSW policing practice that involves the random running of wands, or metal detectors, over people’s the outside of people’s clothing in public places with the key aim of locating knives. This highly invasive policing strategy is currently being trialled, but there is a bill before parliament seeking to expand the program and make it permanent.

Detective acting superintendent Michael Cantrell said on Monday that this was the third time the proactive operation had been run this year. The Operation Foil commander added that it showed a strong commitment to combatting weapons-related crimes. But this also reveals a shift towards the random mass policing of civilians out in public, with those being searched up to officer discretion.

Wanding laws remove the usual requirement that NSW police officers possess before stopping and searching a person, which is a “reasonable suspicion” that they have broken the law. Instead of holding a reasonable ground as to why an officer might approach a civilian for scanning, wanding laws permit officers to approach people in this invasive manner based on their own prejudices.

Custody of knife in public place or school

The key offence that NSW police pressed over its 36-hour Operation Foil blitz was custody of a knife in a public place or school, contrary to section 93IB of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). This offence carries up to 4 years imprisonment and/or a $4,400 fine.

For the prosecution to prove this crime, it must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was the individual identified as committing the act, that they had custody of or possessed the item, that the item was a knife and this occurred in public or at a school.

Section 93IA of the Crimes Act provides the definitions relating to this offence. A “knife” is considered “a blade but does not include a knife of a class prescribed by the regulations”. There are currently no classes of knives prescribed under the Crimes Regulation 2026 (NSW). And a “blade” is defined as either “a knife blade or a razor blade”.

Section 3 of Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) defines a “public place” as “a place (whether or not covered by water), or a part of premises, that is open to the public, or is used by the public whether or not on payment of money or other consideration, whether or not the place or part is ordinarily so open or used and whether or not the public to whom it is open consists only of a limited class of persons, but does not include a school”.

The same section of the Summary Offence Act defines a “school” as either a government school or a registered school, as per the Education Act 1990 (NSW), along with schools providing secular or religious schooling at the preschool, infants, primary or secondary levels, and child-minding centres. This definition includes any land or building linked to a school but not a private residence.

A second similar offence sits under section 93IC of the Crimes Act, which is the crime of using or carrying a knife in a public place or school. This carries up to 4 years prison and/or an $11,000 fine.

To prove the offence of use or carry a knife in public, it must be shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the act, that they were using or visibly carrying an item, the item was a knife and that this occurred in a public place or a school or in the presence of another person.

Reasonable excuse

In terms of the accused defending themselves against a charge of custody of a knife in public, subsection 93IB(2) of the Crimes Act provides that a person is not guilty if they have a reasonable excuse for being in possession.

Subsection 93IB(3) of the Crimes Act lists examples of reasonable excuses that include being in possession of a knife for the purpose of using it in employment, education or training, or for the preparation of food or drink, or for participation in entertainment, recreation or sports, or for exhibiting in retail or other purposes, or for a knife collectors exhibition, or wearing it as part of an official uniform or possessing a knife for religious purposes.

Further reasonable excuses comprise of having a knife while travelling to and from an activity or any circumstances prescribed in the regulation, of which currently there are none listed.

The defence of self-defence or being in possession of a knife in public for the defence of another are not reasonable excuses that can be raised against custody of knife in public, according to subsection 93IB(4) of the Crimes Act.

Legal defences

The defence of duress is also open to an individual charged with custody of a knife in public. This involves the accused arguing that the breaking of the law was done in order to prevent a threat made against themselves or a loved one. So, the accused posits that they were forced or coerced into taking the suspect action in order to avoid harm against themselves or another.

Necessity is another defence open to a charge of custody of a knife in a public place, and it is similar to the defence of duress. Necessity involves the accused claiming they undertook their illegal action in order to prevent a much greater peril from occurring. So, this might entail the claim that a person was carrying a knife in public in order to deter a madman from setting off a bomb in the city.

Offences on the books

Division 2A of part 3A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) contains sections 93IA through to 93IC, which cover the crimes of custody of a knife in public and carry a knife in public. These laws were enacted into the Crimes Act, via the Criminal Legislation Amendment (Knife Crimes) Bill 2023.

These offences were transferred over from sections 11C and 11E of the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) and their penalties were doubled. This meant that these crimes became indictable, or more serious, offences, as opposed to having been summary, or less serious, crimes.

This change would usually result in the 93IB and 93IC offences always being tried in the higher courts in NSW. However, because these offences are listed as table 1 offences, under schedule 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), these crimes can be prosecuted in the lower court.

In terms of table 1 offences, the prosecution or the defence can decide whether such a crime should be tried in the NSW Supreme Court or the NSW District Court as an indictable offence, or whether they should be tried in the NSW Local Court summarily, which then means the maximum prison sentence that can be imposed drops down to 2 years, while the maximum fine remains the same.