Surprising Canberra Crime Statistics. Narrabundah a sexual assault hotspot

Sexual offences reported is not as indicative of sexual offences proven. Where do these stats come from? I do like the North and South debate though. It always yields a good giggle. How did that surface on a thread of this nature though? I am curious. JB, you are quite funny sometimes.

I don’t think Kaon got tried for that many counts?

Interested to know what case they all came from though

From the Crime Stats report in the June 2012 Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter delivered to my area:

Acting Superintendent Meagher also cautioned that any analysis of statistics online should compare the same reporting period to provide an accurate assessment, and warned of statistical anomalies which do not accurately reflect the true crime picture.
“It is important for the community to understand there may be a straight-forward explanation for a spike in offences in their neighbourhood. “For example, sexual offences in Narrabundah increased from two in the January to March last year, to 32 in the first quarter of 2012. These 32 sexual offences relate to one historical case which was reported to police in January 2012, and which has been finalised.

Narrabundah has a terrible feel about it. The shops, the back streets, and particularly the corner nearest Fyshwick.

As for suggestions of Aboriginal influence, well, the stats on Property Damage show a far higher number of incidents in Tuggeranong, does that mean teen mums are responsible? And in Gunghalin, where I note a large number of people from the Indian sub-contentent, the number of traffic infringements is noticeably lower. Does that mean all the practical training on the roads of Dehli and Mumbai are responsible?

Racial profiling is a terrible path to go down, both because it doesn’t tend to be accurate and such labels can potentially fuel certain elements to commit crime.

p1 said :

As a Belconnenite from Belcompton, I always though that “North Canberra” was everything on that map labeled Belco, Gungh, or Nth Canb, and that “South Canberra” was everything labeled Sth Canb, Western Ck, Woden or Tuggers.

That’s pretty much the gist of it, but there is no mention of the Narrabundah/Quangers anomoly. Kinda like the Taswegian third-head.

On a side-note, I recall in the late 1980’s when the only house on Gungahlin was owned by the O’Sullivan’ family. I knew three of the boys from Daramalan, then the youngest two at Kaleen High. Mullet haircuts, Flannies,and AC/DC immediately spring to mind. Gungers original settlers were hardcore bogans. I thought Gungers would end up more like Charnie, but they are kinda an odd variant of their own now.

Disturbing Statistic on sexual assaults in Narrabundah. I trust the AFP are on it and watertight cases are being built.
If you put Narrabundah next to Kambah, the two largest ACT suburbs, on the AFP site it reveals some interesting stats. MV related offences in Kambah are double Narrabundah. Belconnen has the most number of incidents.
Just one career criminal, with multiple offences, can really boost the stats; these raw stats do not show this.

Quick everyone! Here’s a chance to carelessly and ignorantly denounce your perceived “strongholds” of abhorrent locations! Take it away, keyboard warrior!!!

Holden Caulfield said :

As an apparently blissfully ignorant northsider, I’d never heard the “north side is categorically a hotbed for crime” stereotype before.

I have lived north side for most of my life and still spend a lot of my time there. My family has since moved to the south side and there is a blatant stereotype about most of Belconnen amongst south siders. Just as a note I wasn’t perpetuating any stereotypes and if you look at the map most of the recorded crimes have occurred on the north side.

Skidd Marx said :

PS. Narrabundah is not affluent.

Au contraire, many parts of narrabundah are quite effluent.

If the narrabundah slasher is caught, i expect he may also be added to these stats…

Ok. That was quick. The website is pretty well designed to gather longitudinal data in fact. Overall, it seems that the sexual assault stats across the ACT are wildly variable from quarter to quarter going back to 2008. This seems to show that despite the current Narrabundah “blip”, it’s not really statistically significant in the grand scheme of things. Every area of the ACT seems to have a turn at some point of being seemingly over represented in the sexual assault stats. I’m not reading into the current figures too much. Not that sexual assault figures in any area are ever acceptable (unless they’re 0), but I just reckon that the nature of the crime and the population size we’re dealing with means that it’d be futile speculating on a basis for it.

Holden Caulfield said :

As an apparently blissfully ignorant northsider, I’d never heard the “north side is categorically a hotbed for crime” stereotype before.

As a Belconnenite from Belcompton, I always though that “North Canberra” was everything on that map labeled Belco, Gungh, or Nth Canb, and that “South Canberra” was everything labeled Sth Canb, Western Ck, Woden or Tuggers.

I wonder how Narrabundah compares in a longitudinal analysis? Is it a 2012 q1 blip or a persistent “feature”. If it’s the former then surely there’s something that’s changed recently and warrants further investigation. I think I’ll have a looksy for some longitudinal data…

As an apparently blissfully ignorant northsider, I’d never heard the “north side is categorically a hotbed for crime” stereotype before.

chewy14 said :

I’m guessing it’s a mistake.

I’m guessing that seems as though the average over the past few years is 7 you are probably correct.

Skidd Marx said :

Until the cops start publishing per-capita rates these statistics will continue to be meaningless.

PS. Narrabundah is not affluent.

Hmm.. A click of a button shows that in Narrabundah there is 5.42 sexual assaults per 1000 people.

Could this be the result of one person reporting multiple sexual assaults from the one person over a period of time? Or for multiple offenders with multiple charges?

Narrabundah is also a mere stone’s throw from a (in)famous school for boys…

White Commodore overlay. Go.

Doesn’t surprise me. I think it is pretty well known that the Red Hill side of Narrabundah is the nice area, but when you head towards the shops things get pretty nasty.

It isn’t about pointing the finger at any one group, and for the record Boomanulla Oval is one of this community’s best facilities. If you aren’t familiar with their work you should check it out.

Also, is it just me or if you look at the dust trail behind the street view car here, does it look like the driver went for a bit of handbrake action? http://maps.google.com/maps?q=narrabundah&hl=en&ll=-35.337973,149.154365&spn=0.00007,0.075445&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=59.727033,154.511719&hnear=Narrabundah+Australian+Capital+Territory,+Australia&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=-35.337973,149.154365&panoid=n-IEg1Ifur8smPyz3EU55g&cbp=12,102.68,,0,8.74

I’m guessing it’s a mistake.

Until the cops start publishing per-capita rates these statistics will continue to be meaningless.

PS. Narrabundah is not affluent.

johnboy said :

People; in the absence of any evidence that these assaults were indigenous I’m going to rule that the inference is racist.

That line of discussion is not going any further.

Well done JB.

KarlG said :

Is it racism if it’s true?
I thought racism was imputing a characteristic or behaviour on all people coming from a particular race. You must remember that our indigenous brothers are over-represented in our prison system. This could be because a) the system is racist or b) they offend more.

Or (c) Both.

SnapperJack said :

claire 1013 said:

“all counts of sexual assault in the inner south happened in Narrabundah.

Has anyone got any theories to explain these strange statistics?”

Erm claire, are you aware that Narrabundah is home to Boomanulla Oval, Winnunga Boxing, Gugan Gulwan and the Indigenous health service?

I think you get the picture by now.

Umm, Gugan Gulwan is in Wanniassa and the Winnunga Boxing Club is in Fyshwick. Get yer facts straight before trying to troll with your racism.

“South Canberra makes up an astonishing 34.8% of the recorded sexual assault claims in the ACT.
Initially RiotACT HQ held a closer proximity to Queanbeyan responsible for the figures.”

Images of the Rapists of Queanbeyan conducting raids down Canberra Avenue…

SnapperJack said :

claire 1013 said:

“all counts of sexual assault in the inner south happened in Narrabundah.

Has anyone got any theories to explain these strange statistics?”

Erm claire, are you aware that Narrabundah is home to Boomanulla Oval, Winnunga Boxing, Gugan Gulwan and the Indigenous health service?

I think you get the picture by now.

As much as I’d like to lazily accept your theory, the other incident type stats don’t quite support it.

Is it racism if it’s true?
I thought racism was imputing a characteristic or behaviour on all people coming from a particular race. You must remember that our indigenous brothers are over-represented in our prison system. This could be because a) the system is racist or b) they offend more.

Ergh, if it’s not a stats error, is there a serial rapist out there we haven’t been told about?

SnapperJack said :

I think you get the picture by now.

You’re racist?

claire 1013 said:

“all counts of sexual assault in the inner south happened in Narrabundah.

Has anyone got any theories to explain these strange statistics?”

Erm claire, are you aware that Narrabundah is home to Boomanulla Oval, Winnunga Boxing, Gugan Gulwan and the Indigenous health service?

I think you get the picture by now.