21 January 2011

Police claim crime on the run

| johnboy
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The ACT has recorded significant decreases in most reported crimes over the past six-month period.

Comparing the period July 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010, to the corresponding period in 2009, ACT has seen a 29.5 per cent decline in burglaries, a 35.2 per cent drop in reported motor vehicle thefts, a 54.8 per cent reduction in robberies not involving a weapon, and a 30 per cent decrease in reported sexual offences.

Similarly, the downward crime trend revealed in the full calendar year comparison (2009-2010) shows burglaries fell 11.8 per cent, motor vehicle theft by 24.6 per cent, robberies not involving a weapon by 37.4 per cent and sexual offences by 21.8 per cent.

While many factors can contribute to these significant decreases, Acting Deputy Chief Police Officer Corey Heldon said that these positive outcomes, particularly in property crimes such as motor vehicle theft and burglary, are partially attributable to several ACT Policing initiatives over the period.

These initiatives include the establishment of a dedicated property crime team with an aggressive crime-targeting strategy; a revitalised intelligence collection and analysis effort against volume property crime; targeting known recidivist offenders; and enforcing bail conditions on known property crime offenders.

“The incidence of crime in our community is influenced by a wide range of combining factors so while we must be cautious in making self-congratulatory announcements about the police being solely responsible for this outcome, it is important to acknowledge the terrific work that police have performed in the past six months which I believe has contributed to this result,” a/Commander Heldon said.

“We’ve seen some outstanding work recently, both by our dedicated property crime team and our General Duties officers. Recently one of our Woden Patrol officers investigated a burglary and then used our forensic database to connect the alleged young recidivist offender to multiple burglaries and thefts throughout Canberra going back two years.

“Police are committed to providing a safer and more secure community but it’s worth remembering that everyone living and working in our community has an active role to play through reporting suspicious persons or activity to Crime Stoppers,” a/DCPO Heldon added.

01 July 2009 – 31 December 2009 compared to 01 July 2010 – 31 December 2010*



Reported period

Assault (Other)

Assault (Home)

Sexual Offences

Robbery – armed

Robbery – other

Burglary

Motor vehicle theft

Theft other than vehicle

Property Damage

2009

740

426

180

56

115

2724

1166

7115

5066

2010

727

452

126

56

52

1920

756

5673

3843

% change

-1.8

6.1

-30.0

0.0

-54.8

-29.5

-35.2

-20.3

-24.1



*Source: PROMIS as at 17 January 2011





Calendar year – 01 January 2009 – 31 December 2009 compared to 01 January 2010 – 31 December 2010*


Reported period

Assault (Other)

Assault (Home)

Sexual Offences

Robbery – armed

Robbery – other

Burglary

Motor vehicle theft

Theft other than vehicle

Property Damage

2009

1555

878

339

111

206

4917

2216

13265

9537

2010

1541

941

265

127

129

4339

1670

12674

8077

% change

-0.9

7.2

-21.8

14.4

-37.4

-11.8

-24.6

-4.5

-15.3

*Source: PROMIS as at 19 January 2011

01

01

[Courtesy of ACT Policing]

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Not said :

Tooks said :

Not said :

Tooks said :

“The incidence of crime in our community is influenced by a wide range of combining factors so while we must be cautious in making self-congratulatory announcements about the police being solely responsible for this outcome, it is important to acknowledge the terrific work that police have performed in the past six months which I believe has contributed to this result,” a/Commander Heldon said.

I was going to comment on that also. He urges caution in self congratulating the police for solely being responsible, as I am sure the entire force would know just how ridiculous that would be, but then he congratulates them for their “partial” role they no doubt played in these crime figures on display courteous of none other than the AFP. I don’t know who should feel more offended here. I kinda feel sorry for him for having to present with the obvious lack of media training. But then all the other coppers who, lets face it, get enough put on them as it is, only get mentioned as having played a partial role. We all love our police force but they have to know crime management is what they do. And they do it well. I think he meant to say that if anything, a plausible explanation was general deterrence, a function of the law. And I am sure a copper isn’t about to let the courts and lawyers play a part. That would just mean everyone got let off by the ever lenient Higgins. God I talk a lot of nonsense sometimes. Tooks, I suspect you might be cop and I am no angel, but I recognize the value of the force. If only they didn’t take things so personally..

I don’t take anything personally, Not, but I’ll call someone out on any topic if they make a stupid comment (and I’m sure people would do the same to me). My original response to you was based on what even you must admit was a poorly thought out – if not stupid – comment (#16).

I don’t agree with most of what you said in comment 25, but at least you took the time to explain yourself better.

As for what I do for a living…like most people on this site, I’ll keep that to myself.

I thought I made sense but I guess its hard to get what is inside the head onto the page! I ll give you that though. The things I say and the things I think about before I say them are few and far between. We are here to give our thoughts on all things Canberra though, and I think I have seen enough of what goes on there to have an opinion. But you really should read up on Wade V Roe. Fascinating story.

No dramas, Not; I respect your opinion. Like I said, I don’t take anything personally on this site and I hope you don’t either. It would be a boring world if we all agreed on everything.

Tooks said :

Not said :

Tooks said :

“The incidence of crime in our community is influenced by a wide range of combining factors so while we must be cautious in making self-congratulatory announcements about the police being solely responsible for this outcome, it is important to acknowledge the terrific work that police have performed in the past six months which I believe has contributed to this result,” a/Commander Heldon said.

I was going to comment on that also. He urges caution in self congratulating the police for solely being responsible, as I am sure the entire force would know just how ridiculous that would be, but then he congratulates them for their “partial” role they no doubt played in these crime figures on display courteous of none other than the AFP. I don’t know who should feel more offended here. I kinda feel sorry for him for having to present with the obvious lack of media training. But then all the other coppers who, lets face it, get enough put on them as it is, only get mentioned as having played a partial role. We all love our police force but they have to know crime management is what they do. And they do it well. I think he meant to say that if anything, a plausible explanation was general deterrence, a function of the law. And I am sure a copper isn’t about to let the courts and lawyers play a part. That would just mean everyone got let off by the ever lenient Higgins. God I talk a lot of nonsense sometimes. Tooks, I suspect you might be cop and I am no angel, but I recognize the value of the force. If only they didn’t take things so personally..

I don’t take anything personally, Not, but I’ll call someone out on any topic if they make a stupid comment (and I’m sure people would do the same to me). My original response to you was based on what even you must admit was a poorly thought out – if not stupid – comment (#16).

I don’t agree with most of what you said in comment 25, but at least you took the time to explain yourself better.

As for what I do for a living…like most people on this site, I’ll keep that to myself.

I thought I made sense but I guess its hard to get what is inside the head onto the page! I ll give you that though. The things I say and the things I think about before I say them are few and far between. We are here to give our thoughts on all things Canberra though, and I think I have seen enough of what goes on there to have an opinion. But you really should read up on Wade V Roe. Fascinating story.

Not said :

Tooks said :

“The incidence of crime in our community is influenced by a wide range of combining factors so while we must be cautious in making self-congratulatory announcements about the police being solely responsible for this outcome, it is important to acknowledge the terrific work that police have performed in the past six months which I believe has contributed to this result,” a/Commander Heldon said.

I was going to comment on that also. He urges caution in self congratulating the police for solely being responsible, as I am sure the entire force would know just how ridiculous that would be, but then he congratulates them for their “partial” role they no doubt played in these crime figures on display courteous of none other than the AFP. I don’t know who should feel more offended here. I kinda feel sorry for him for having to present with the obvious lack of media training. But then all the other coppers who, lets face it, get enough put on them as it is, only get mentioned as having played a partial role. We all love our police force but they have to know crime management is what they do. And they do it well. I think he meant to say that if anything, a plausible explanation was general deterrence, a function of the law. And I am sure a copper isn’t about to let the courts and lawyers play a part. That would just mean everyone got let off by the ever lenient Higgins. God I talk a lot of nonsense sometimes. Tooks, I suspect you might be cop and I am no angel, but I recognize the value of the force. If only they didn’t take things so personally..

I don’t take anything personally, Not, but I’ll call someone out on any topic if they make a stupid comment (and I’m sure people would do the same to me). My original response to you was based on what even you must admit was a poorly thought out – if not stupid – comment (#16).

I don’t agree with most of what you said in comment 25, but at least you took the time to explain yourself better.

As for what I do for a living…like most people on this site, I’ll keep that to myself.

Tooks said :

“The incidence of crime in our community is influenced by a wide range of combining factors so while we must be cautious in making self-congratulatory announcements about the police being solely responsible for this outcome, it is important to acknowledge the terrific work that police have performed in the past six months which I believe has contributed to this result,” a/Commander Heldon said.

I was going to comment on that also. He urges caution in self congratulating the police for solely being responsible, as I am sure the entire force would know just how ridiculous that would be, but then he congratulates them for their “partial” role they no doubt played in these crime figures on display courteous of none other than the AFP. I don’t know who should feel more offended here. I kinda feel sorry for him for having to present with the obvious lack of media training. But then all the other coppers who, lets face it, get enough put on them as it is, only get mentioned as having played a partial role. We all love our police force but they have to know crime management is what they do. And they do it well. I think he meant to say that if anything, a plausible explanation was general deterrence, a function of the law. And I am sure a copper isn’t about to let the courts and lawyers play a part. That would just mean everyone got let off by the ever lenient Higgins. God I talk a lot of nonsense sometimes. Tooks, I suspect you might be cop and I am no angel, but I recognize the value of the force. If only they didn’t take things so personally..

“The incidence of crime in our community is influenced by a wide range of combining factors so while we must be cautious in making self-congratulatory announcements about the police being solely responsible for this outcome, it is important to acknowledge the terrific work that police have performed in the past six months which I believe has contributed to this result,” a/Commander Heldon said.

Not said :

Tooks said :

Not said :

Now all they need to do is solve all the murders and restore public affection. What does the police force have to do with crime rates coming down? Nothing there in the tables tells me it is on the account of anything they have done. Canberra is a safe clean city.

Stupidity or blatant trolling?

Well it is possibly stupidity but I don’t think it is of topic in a trolling sense. I am not questioning the validity of the data, I don’t even care where it came from. Crime rates always change for better or worse. But where is the evidence to suggest that the crime rates here are only because Police have formed a group to target bla bla bla bla. Is it possible the crime rates fell because they just did? Or that maybe people just were not feeling criminally minded that day. We need our police force and they are invaluable to the community at large. But please, policing doesn’t have the ability to influence these outcomes. And last time I checked there were number of unsolved murders outstanding so I think calling me stupid or a troll is a bit lazy really. Tooks you are familiar with Wade V Roe yes? Have a look at what that did for the crime rates and tell me its only police in the night fighting crime that keeps the people safe. Pfft. Love you.

Troll. Thanks for answering that for me.

Tooks said :

Not said :

Now all they need to do is solve all the murders and restore public affection. What does the police force have to do with crime rates coming down? Nothing there in the tables tells me it is on the account of anything they have done. Canberra is a safe clean city.

Stupidity or blatant trolling?

Well it is possibly stupidity but I don’t think it is of topic in a trolling sense. I am not questioning the validity of the data, I don’t even care where it came from. Crime rates always change for better or worse. But where is the evidence to suggest that the crime rates here are only because Police have formed a group to target bla bla bla bla. Is it possible the crime rates fell because they just did? Or that maybe people just were not feeling criminally minded that day. We need our police force and they are invaluable to the community at large. But please, policing doesn’t have the ability to influence these outcomes. And last time I checked there were number of unsolved murders outstanding so I think calling me stupid or a troll is a bit lazy really. Tooks you are familiar with Wade V Roe yes? Have a look at what that did for the crime rates and tell me its only police in the night fighting crime that keeps the people safe. Pfft. Love you.

Not said :

Now all they need to do is solve all the murders and restore public affection. What does the police force have to do with crime rates coming down? Nothing there in the tables tells me it is on the account of anything they have done. Canberra is a safe clean city.

Stupidity or blatant trolling?

Inappropriate9:32 am 24 Jan 11

bd84 said :

Have crime rates fallen or have people just given up reporting crimes because police resources are stretched and they know they won’t get a timely response?

Not sure, but it has been shown that people don’t report crimes out of fear of reprisals.

bd84 said :

Have crime rates fallen or have people just given up reporting crimes because police resources are stretched and they know they won’t get a timely response?

Remember, the stats are comparing 2009-2010. Are you suggesting that in one year, people have suddenly given up reporting crime despite their being no change in police resources? How many victims of burglaries and car thefts don’t report it?

bd84 said :

Tooks said :

bd84 said :

Have crime rates fallen or have people just given up reporting crimes because police resources are stretched and they know they won’t get a timely response?

Hmm. Have a look at police responsiveness on the Annual Report and you’ll see the only target not met was for response times for priority 3 incidents (off target by .5%).

The target set may not reflect what the public expect. It also doesn’t show how many crimes are not reported.

Wait. Your point was that “they know they won’t get a timely response.” What is your definition of a timely response?

Tooks said :

bd84 said :

Have crime rates fallen or have people just given up reporting crimes because police resources are stretched and they know they won’t get a timely response?

Hmm. Have a look at police responsiveness on the Annual Report and you’ll see the only target not met was for response times for priority 3 incidents (off target by .5%).

The target set may not reflect what the public expect. It also doesn’t show how many crimes are not reported.

Now all they need to do is solve all the murders and restore public affection. What does the police force have to do with crime rates coming down? Nothing there in the tables tells me it is on the account of anything they have done. Canberra is a safe clean city.

bd84 said :

Have crime rates fallen or have people just given up reporting crimes because police resources are stretched and they know they won’t get a timely response?

Hmm. Have a look at police responsiveness on the Annual Report and you’ll see the only target not met was for response times for priority 3 incidents (off target by .5%).

Have crime rates fallen or have people just given up reporting crimes because police resources are stretched and they know they won’t get a timely response?

Mystery2Me said :

blah, blah, blah…. Agree with you Deano, let’s wait until all those recidivist offenders get released…

Doesn’t that mean the Police have done their job ???? They don’t just hand themselves in you know !!!

Deano said :

Spideydog said :

Oh FFS, there is just no pleasing some people.

Don’t get me wrong, it is good to see that what are basically good old fashioned policing techniques are getting results. My gripe is with the way the AFP leadership is promoting these as some sort of initiative. I mean seriously, if an ‘aggressive crime-targeting strategy’ is considered an initiative, WTF were they doing before – half heartedly targeting crime? Aggressively targeting something else? As for targeting known recidivist offenders and known property crime offenders on bail, well duhh. Any armchair detective could have told you that the first thing to do when investigating a crime is to pay a visit to the usual suspects.

I agree the results are good, I just don’t appreciate the ‘look how good we are’ spin being applied to what is essentially a back to basics approach.

You simplify it too much. These initiatives aren’t “were doing this for the first time and look at these amazing results” These initiatives may include a shift or more efficient use of the VERY limited manpower and resources, adding and using new technologies which are now available, just to name a couple.

I am sure the Police had always been using these “back to basics approach” but now have expanded that capability. Its all about continual enhancement and improvement on how business is done.

I see no issue with the AFP informing the public of the good results achieved from such initiatives that are far from such a simplistic “back to basics” approach.

A while ago, the AFP were being criticised for not telling the public enough of what they do and now that they do, they get labelled show offs ……… as I said, just no pleasing some people.

Recidivist offenders should have a good dose of corporal punishment. A 1.2 metre long rattan cane dipped in brine would do the job nicely.

Spideydog said :

Oh FFS, there is just no pleasing some people.

Don’t get me wrong, it is good to see that what are basically good old fashioned policing techniques are getting results. My gripe is with the way the AFP leadership is promoting these as some sort of initiative. I mean seriously, if an ‘aggressive crime-targeting strategy’ is considered an initiative, WTF were they doing before – half heartedly targeting crime? Aggressively targeting something else? As for targeting known recidivist offenders and known property crime offenders on bail, well duhh. Any armchair detective could have told you that the first thing to do when investigating a crime is to pay a visit to the usual suspects.

I agree the results are good, I just don’t appreciate the ‘look how good we are’ spin being applied to what is essentially a back to basics approach.

The AFP have done a real job of bringing these toe-rags to court. I’m sure they have a very short list of recidivist offenders who fit the bill for most of the personal property crimes reported in the ACT.

The AFP are locked in to a court system giving undue preference to these wretches, and so a number of crims are back on the street within days of offending, capture and prosecution.

We have a (small) number of recidivist property theft crims. Make sure the Hume Hilton has room for them, and lean on our learned judges to send them down for a year or three.

We could wind up with a (practically) crime free Nirvana.

“blah, blah, blah…. Agree with you Deano, let’s wait until all those recidivist offenders get released…”

The reduced figure might have a lot to do with who they have in AMC for the last year. The police did a great job of removing some major players from the community. A dedicated property crime unit is good news.

blah, blah, blah…. Agree with you Deano, let’s wait until all those recidivist offenders get released…

Deano said :

Whilst this is good news, I would have thought that these ‘initiatives’ were really no more than the AFP just doing its job.

Oh FFS, there is just no pleasing some people.

Captain RAAF6:02 pm 21 Jan 11

Of course theres a decline, all the guilty are cooling thier heels in the Monaro Hotel, but nows it’s chockers the sentences are going to involve a lot more slaps on the wrist and back on the street with ya’!

All good. Well done, Mr Plod.

Reading those calender year stats i gather that you are more likely to be robbed by an armed robber (vs an unarmed one) and more likely to be assaulted in your own home. I don’t see how this is good.

Clearly, the high level of crime is scaring people away from reporting the increasing crime rate.

These initiatives include the establishment of a dedicated property crime team with an aggressive crime-targeting strategy; a revitalised intelligence collection and analysis effort against volume property crime; targeting known recidivist offenders; and enforcing bail conditions on known property crime offenders.

Whilst this is good news, I would have thought that these ‘initiatives’ were really no more than the AFP just doing its job.

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