AUSTRALIAN CRIME WAVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 June 1946, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN CRIME WAVE

ARMED VIOLENCE CAUSES ALARM ACTION BY GOVERNMENT SYDNEY, May 31. “To put down lawlessness and gunplay in Sydney the Government is reviewing the latest Firearms Act amendments to see if the law .should be tightened,” said the Premier (Mr. W. J. McKellj. He appealed to the public to surrender firearms to the police, and said that those who complied between now and the end of next month would not have court proceedings taken against them. Mr. McKell said 500 recruits had been enrolled in the police force in the last five months. Numerically, the force was now only 30 per cent, below its highest pre-war level. The alarming outbreak of armed crime in Australian cities has drawn public attention to the claim that there are more automatic pistols and sub-machine-guns in illegal possession of the criminal element than ever before. The police have thought this for some time and they have been actively trying to combat the use of firearms by criminals. Within 24 hours three detectives have been wounded in the Sydney area when trying to disarm men who were carrying automatic pistols. In each case the detectives were hit when diving at or grappling with men who they already knew were armed. Searches carried out by the police during two days this week have revealed nine pistols and four rifles. . ________