Crime isn’t as bad as anecdotal ‘evidence’ suggests. Photo: Garakta-Studio.
Earlier this week, a neighbour posted on my complex’s Facebook group that his motorbike had been stolen overnight.
Thanks to our poor parking options, the motorbike was being parked in front of their front door, visible from the top of the driveway. It was found that same day, dumped several houses away, still in our complex.
The incident comes as Watson and Downer residents have complained about an uptick in crime and theft in the area, with reports of home break-ins, destruction of property and people feeling unsafe at the shops. It’s true that these types of crimes are invasive and scary, partly because of their random nature.
My house was broken into in 2019 when I lived in a rental in Downer. We had moved to the house after years of living in secure apartment complexes, which had double security measures in the form of swipe-access front doors and lifts. We were never on the ground floor and definitely became complacent about safety as a result.
When we moved to the house in Downer, we stupidly left valuables, like our laptops, in plain sight through the windows (albeit the back windows), and within weeks, we were broken into. The laptops and my jewellery were stolen.
We reported it to the police, received a job number and never heard from them again. It was incredibly violating. The house never felt safe again after that, and we felt vulnerable to further break-ins because we weren’t able to increase the security infrastructure without landlord buy-in.
It’s one of the reasons why, when we were looking to buy a few years later, we chose to buy in a townhouse complex. It felt safer to be surrounded by other houses, set back off the street. People who didn’t belong in the complex would be easier to spot, we figured, and the number of neighbours who were around day and night could be a deterrence.
But the motorbike theft made my heart sink – it seemed so brazen, and even though they were unsuccessful, it made me realise that we may not be as immune to further break-ins as we thought.
That said, it’s worth remembering that crime continues to decrease in Canberra.
According to ACT Policing stats, robberies have fallen steadily in the Inner North between 2020 and 2023. And as for people feeling unsafe at the Watson shops, this makes me feel uneasy. Yes, there are often people begging for cash or groceries outside the shops. Apparently, there are concerns about drug deals taking place. I can’t claim any personal insight into that, but as a frequent shopper at Watson, I will say that I have never once felt unsafe.
I regularly have conversations with the people who beg outside the IGA, and I have always found individuals to be calm and polite and have never felt harassed. When people talk about feeling unsafe because of being in proximity with others who have less fortunate circumstances – are visibly poor, seeking help and may be homeless – it smacks to me of prejudice. Poverty isn’t contagious, and the simple solution to dealing with beggars, if you aren’t in a position to help or simply don’t want to, is to say no. I often give cash or groceries, but when I’m in a hurry or can’t, no one has ever pressed the issue.
Crime is scary – it’s natural to feel unsafe if you’ve experienced it, and when more than one incident happens in your neighbourhood in a short period, it can feel as if there’s a huge wave of criminal activity, even if the statistics don’t corroborate it. But I think it would be a real shame to paint our suburbs as being rife with criminal activity or suggesting every person at the Watson shops who isn’t clearly middle class is a threat.
Instead, we can focus on reporting actual crime when it happens, seeking proper police intervention and support where needed, and practising empathy for those who are down their luck in the meantime.
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