By Brendan Rees
Victoria Police will conduct random searches of people for weapons within a designated area of Cranbourne as part of a police public safety operation on Friday 10 July.
Police officers and protective service officers will be out in force between 2pm and 10pm checking people to seize illegal weapons such as knives as Victoria Police activates Operation Omni, allowing officers to conduct pat-down searches of people or search vehicles.
The area declared a ‘designated search area’ is bounded by Camms Road, west of High Street, north of Duff Street and east of Fairfield Street.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said: “The powers for the Chief Commissioner to declare a planned search area are set out in s.10D of the Control of Weapons Act, however for operational reasons, Victoria Police does not always disclose the reasons for declaring a designated area.”
“There is no intelligence to suggest there will be any pre-planned incidents in Cranbourne on Friday 10 July.”
Police say its offence to obstruct or hinder a police officer or protective service officer in their exercise of powers to stop and search a person as well as fail to comply with a direction to remove a face covering or to leave a designated area.
Under the operation, police ask the public to cooperate as they may use electronic wands or request people to remove outer layers of clothing and remove items from their pockets.
