More than 30 people have been charged during Operation Furittus, established to target anti-social and criminal behaviour across the Tweed/Byron Police District.
In recent months, Tweed/Byron Police have increased high-visibility policing at areas such as local shopping centres, public spaces, and public transport hubs to enhance community safety.
This week, between Tuesday 1 April 2025 and Thursday 3 April 2025, officers from Tweed/Byron Police District held a joint operation with security investigation partners and centre management at local shopping centres.
Uniformed and plain-clothes police worked in conjunction with retail outlets and loss prevention officers to saturate local shopping centres to detect and disrupt crime.
As a result of the operation:
- A total of 49 charges were laid against 33 people, including several outstanding warrants and breach AVO offences.
- 15 business inspections took place with 60 shoplifters detected,
- 25 criminal infringement notices were issued,
- 37 banning notices were issued,
- seven youth cautions were conducted,
- six people were moved on, and
- there were eight breach of parole notifications.
In addition, officers attached to Police Transport Command and Tweed/Byron Police District used handheld scanners to reduce knife crime and boost community safety under Operation Ares.
Operation Ares ran between 9am and 9pm yesterday (Thursday 3 April 2025) at two shopping precincts in Tweed Heads.
In total, 384 people were stopped and scanned using hand-held devices resulting in one knife allegedly being produced by a 56-year-old Mullumbimby man.
He was issued a court attendance notice for custody of knife in public place, and will appear before Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday 28 April 2025.
Tweed/Byron Police District Crime Manager, Detective Inspector Matt Zimmer, said these operations are part of wide-scale proactive policing strategy aimed at keeping the local communities safe.
"Members of our community have a right to feel safe when they use our shopping centres, public spaces and transport hubs. This operation reinforces our commitment to maintaining a strong presence in the community by disrupting individuals who engage in criminal activity and holding them accountable for their actions."
"Police have developed strong relationships with many local retail outlets and security partners. This operation has identified a large number of individuals who have been prosecuted for outstanding warrants and a range of other offences including stealing, possessing prohibited drugs and having goods in their custody suspected of being stolen."
"Police proactively investigate all reports of retail theft and anti-social behaviour through the use of CCTV and other investigative strategies. If individuals steal from a retail outlet or commit offences within local shopping centres, there is a high likelihood that they will be identified and prosecuted."
These types of operations will continue across the Tweed/Byron Police District, while Operation Ares will continue to run in various areas across NSW.
