The disturbing trend that has Victoria’s top cop ‘terribly concerned’

Victoria’s top cop has revealed he is “terribly concerned” about rising knife crime across the state.

It comes after the tragic stabbing death of a 26-year-old carpenter at Seaford last night.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton says Victoria Police intelligence have been monitoring the issue closely for the past six months, and found a disturbing trend.

“We have seen significant rises in the use of edged weapons and knives, and it is a real concern for us,” Mr Patton told Neil Mitchell.

“The prevalence and the use of knives that we’re seeing nowadays is very, very concerning for me.”

Mr Patton says knife crime is an area of focus for police.

“We’re obviously doing what we can. We run a number of operations … where we declare a designated area … and search people randomly,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to do what we can.”

Police are particularly concerned about the growing number of young people carrying knives and other edged weapons.

“Often you hear the excuse, when they’re apprehended with them ‘I’ve got it for self-defence’, but we know that having it for perceived or belief in self-defence, suddenly it becomes used in a moment of anger and they’ve killed someone.”

Press PLAY below for more.

Image: Darrian Traynor / Getty