16 March 2009

Rising interchange assaults the result of better policing?

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times is concerned that the number of reported assaults at bus interchanges in Canberra has gone up from 23 in 2006 to 62 in 2008.

Thats a 270% increase.

Simon Corbell claims the rise can be attributed to better policing making it easier for people to report complaints.

Given that the police presence is much improved, and in years gone by it was almost impossible to actually report an assault, there’s probably something to this line of thinking.

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Pommy bastard8:45 am 17 Mar 09

A few more CCTV cameras at each interchange wouldn’t go amiss.

Properly running interchanges would require them being staffed with visible Action representatives from the beginning of service to the end of the last service. Since you cant even get a ticket after 5PM, this is wishful thinking.

Criminals do not want to be observed, if they know that they are likely to be observed, they will go elsewhere.

The interchanges will then become safer. Expecting zero assaults or zero incidents is wishful thinking.

I should also add that The Belconnen Community Council are holding a meeting on Tuesday night where the CEO of Action will discuss the demolition of the Belconnen Interchange, and its replacement with four bus stations. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

vg said :

Its essentially an offence where people report something to the Police that didn’t happen, deliberate false reporting of stuff

Thanks.

ramblingted said :

Guess I’m just an old Program Budgeting dinosaur, but wouldn’t a key performance indicator for “effective policing of the bus interchange” be “nobody beating anyone else’s head in”?

Arrests for “Assault in a Bus Interchange” would be interesting too. Anyone think that’s up 270%?

Corbell could also give the stats on the source of these reports – phone, police station walk-in, or police on-site – which I imagine is written in the report and would back up his argument, assuming he’s not telling porkies.

Its essentially an offence where people report something to the Police that didn’t happen, deliberate false reporting of stuff

vg said :

Public nuisance means something different in the ACT

So what does it mean here?

Public nuisance means something different in the ACT

This is probably the QLD offence G was talking about. I think it would sort out a lot of problems if we had it here.

6 Public nuisance
(1) A person must not commit a public nuisance offence.

Maximum penalty–10 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment.

(2) A person commits a public nuisance offence if–

(a) the person behaves in–
(i) a disorderly way; or
(ii) an offensive way; or
(iii) a threatening way; or
(iv) a violent way; and
(b) the person’s behaviour interferes, or is likely to interfere, with the peaceful passage through, or enjoyment of, a public place by a member of the public.
(3) Without limiting subsection (2)–

(a) a person behaves in an offensive way if the person uses offensive, obscene, indecent or abusive language; and
(b) a person behaves in a threatening way if the person uses threatening language.
(4) It is not necessary for a person to make a complaint about the behaviour of another person before a police officer may start a proceeding against the person for a public nuisance offence.

(5) Also, in a proceeding for a public nuisance offence, more than 1 matter mentioned in subsection (2)(a) may be relied on to prove a single public nuisance offence.

I forgot to add that I agree with your comment.

Sorry G.

Special G,

Maybe a change in legislation , not Police tactics, will see a long term effect on results.

Ramblington,

Yes you are an old dinosaur.

A great KPI indicator would be nil assaults…. anywhere, not just interchanges.

However, poeple who are a glass half full, beat the crap out of other people, even when the Police are present.

Go out to the City and you will see heaps of cops and heaps of fights in front of cops.

Hence why there are more complaints, the cops try to make the victim proceed with the complaint to make an impact on the crowds that congregate in the CBD and ubsequently thinks it’s ok to get in a barney.

The Ombudsmans review suggested that too many people were being locked up for being drunk and disorderly and Police should be looking at the substantive charges.

Maybe a change in Police tactics to giving people directions to leave the city isn’t working and the disorderly conduct has then turned into an assault. Maybe the ACT should be looking at QLD’s street offences legislation and turning disorderly conduct into an offence leaving Police to remove these people off the streets before they start punching people.

Or its just jinking the stats. Who knows.

peterh said :

Pommy bastard said :

gone are the days when mr plod was the one doin the kickin.

Yes, but they didn’t have all the paperwork back then. No wonder Reg packed it in.

Pommy bastard said :

Simon Corbell claims the rise can be attributed to better policing making it easier for people to report complaints.

I’d be interested in hearing how this “better policing” makes it “easier to report complaints”.

“Ello, ello, ello, wot’s going on here then? You look like you’ve had the crap kicked out of you old son! Fill in this report sheet, and we’ll soon see if we cannot boost our reporting figures help you get back on your feet sir. ‘Ave a nice day now.”

gone are the days when mr plod was the one doin the kickin.

Pommy bastard said :

“Ello, ello, ello, wot’s going on here then? You look like you’ve had the crap kicked out of you old son! Fill in this report sheet, and we’ll soon see if we cannot boost our reporting figures help you get back on your feet sir. ‘Ave a nice day now.”

Sounds like all the Federal Police positions are being filled by dodgy extras from The Bill or something.

Lord knows what’s gonna happen at Canley Estate with them all over hear instead.

Greater police presence on the ground makes it easier for victims to get motivated to report. When the assault is at the less serious end of the spectrum, victims might have preferred to get the hell out of there and nurse their bruises in peace. A sympathetic cop (yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus) can help convince people to report who wouldn’t have otherwise.

Correlation does not imply causation, and unless Mr Corbell wants to provide more information for us to analyse and draw our own conclusions, I won’t believe his assertion based on his comment.
(But, I won’t believe the Canberra Times’ side immediately either, when their headline is clearly wrong. Its the assault reports that have soared, there is no definite information on the total number of actual assaults, other than the police statistic of reported assaults)

Even beginner statisticians know that simple questions like “Does attending a class in statistics improve a students understanding of statistical theory?” can have answers of ‘Possibly? Without further analysis we can’t say for certain.”

Pommy bastard2:09 pm 16 Mar 09

Simon Corbell claims the rise can be attributed to better policing making it easier for people to report complaints.

I’d be interested in hearing how this “better policing” makes it “easier to report complaints”.

“Ello, ello, ello, wot’s going on here then? You look like you’ve had the crap kicked out of you old son! Fill in this report sheet, and we’ll soon see if we cannot boost our reporting figures help you get back on your feet sir. ‘Ave a nice day now.”

Simon Corbell’s assertion is possible and logical (and illustrates the need to do deep analysis on such things) however I’d like to see a lot more information than is provided before I’d believe either side.

Hmm – people have always been able to walk into a police shopfront and make a report.

I’d be interested in hearing what the allegations actually were.

Also, what is the correlation between reports and arrests?

Guess I’m just an old Program Budgeting dinosaur, but wouldn’t a key performance indicator for “effective policing of the bus interchange” be “nobody beating anyone else’s head in”?

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