ACT Policing’s latest quarterly crime statistics show a decline in crime reports in Canberra’s north and in reports of assault, sexual assault, offences against a person and other offences, which includes weapon and drug offences, across Canberra over the past year.
The release of the April to June 2015 quarterly crime statistics show Gungahlin experienced the largest decrease in Canberra, down 8.9 per cent when comparing 2014-15 with the previous financial year. Belconnen saw a decrease of 6.3 per cent and the Inner North saw a decrease of 2.3 per cent for the same period.
Across the ACT, person-to-person crimes saw a decline when comparing 2014-15 to the previous financial year. This includes reports of sexual assault down 19.4 per cent, assault down 8.8 per cent and other offences against a person down 8.1 per cent. Other offences, which includes weapon and drug offences, also saw a decline of 2.8 per cent in the same period.
An increase in property crime over the financial year contributed to a small increase of 2.9 per cent in total reports of crime across Canberra when compared to the previous financial year. Crime types that saw an increase across the period included motor vehicle theft up 32.4 per cent, burglary up 10.2 per cent, theft up 7.5 per cent, robbery up 6.6 per cent, property damage up 5.6 per cent.
Reports of homicide increased from four to six reports when comparing 2014-15 to the previous financial year.
The increase in crime reports was seen mostly in Canberra’s south with reports in Weston Creek up 33.7 per cent, Tuggeranong up 16.3 per cent, the Inner South up 9.8 per cent and Woden up 2.9 per cent when comparing 2014-15 to the previous financial year. The new region of Molonglo saw an increase of 170.3 per cent, which is not an unusual result for an area which is quickly expanding and becoming populated.
Deputy Chief Police Officer Crime Commander Andrea Quinn was pleased that despite a small increase overall, reports of crime remained 32 per cent lower than five years ago, during 2009-10.
“ACT Policing is committed to ensuring that Canberra remains the safest capital city in Australia,” Commander Quinn said.
“While reports of property crime have increased over the financial year, ACT Policing has achieved the targets set in the Property Crime Reduction Strategy for 2015, with a 47.4 per cent decrease in victims of Burglary and 43.5 per cent decrease in victims of Motor Vehicle Theft when compared to the 2010 baseline.”
“Crime is cyclical and although we have enjoyed a downward trend over the last five years, it’s natural to see some ebbing and flowing. Crime is ever changing and we focus on remaining ready to adapt and evolve in order to meet any new challenges as they arise.”
“Importantly, these statistics will play an important role in ACT Policing’s operational strategies to fight crime. This information feeds into our Crime Prevention and Intelligence portfolios which work to develop strategies on emerging crime issues in the Canberra community from a Territory-wide perspective to specific priorities for each local district.”
“The support of the community is essential to reducing crime, particularly in the area of property crime. I’d like to thank the community for their support in reporting crime, reporting suspicious activity to Crime Stoppers and for their responsiveness to calls for witnesses and assistance in investigations.”
“In particular, the support of the community across our Facebook and Twitter pages has helped police on multiple occasions to locate offenders and spread crime prevention messages,” Commander Quinn said.
The latest quarterly crime statistics are available on the ACT Policing website.
(ACT Policing media release)
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