Two men attempt an aggravated robbery at Isabella Plains IGA last night

So news today of ‘yet another’ shooting in Tuggeranong overnight. The people who were defending the ACT Police efforts in Tuggeranong have gone very quiet.

If people can’t see the hard evidence around serious Crime in Tuggeranong then they need to realise they are kidding themselves.

The inability of ACT Police to dedicate enough resources to the area, the consistently slow time for Police to respond to incidents in Tuggeranong and the complete lack of Police presence and Police numbers for the region is apparent to many Tuggeranong residents, but unfortunately not apparent to the Chief Minister, Police Minister and ACT Police spokespeople.

If these incidents started happening around the Chief Minister’s and Green’s leaders inner North neighbourhood, you can bet extra funding and resources would be quickly found and action would be taken.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/taskforce-nemesis-investigating-shots-fired-in-kambah-overnight-20170914-gyh8pb.html

2902 said :

bj_ACT, not sure what the Wanniassa shooting by police 6 years ago has to do with the increased crime here in the South? That individual was suffering from mental issues and lunged at police with a knife, not robbing a servo of its cash.

Yes 2902, that’s actually why I separated that from other incidents such as direct crime etc. Sorry if I didn’t make it clear in my post (although I note Riotact removes formatting that separates things occasionally).

It is the clear lack of funding, staffing and mental illness support in Tuggeranong that leads to terrible incidents such as these. If the ACT government is going to send unwanted public housing tenants out of Civic and down into Tuggeranong they have to provide additional support for NGO’s, Welfare agencies, Mental and Physical Health, Drug Support and Police resources in particular. No good just washing your hands of an issue and hoping it won’t cause problems.

Closing the Erindale Police station was supposed to make policing in Tuggeranong better and enable extra resources for the area (but results, outcomes and events show) that it was really just a cost saving for ACT Government, surprise, surprise.

I see practically zero police presence in Tuggeranong. Occasionally a speed camera of course, but police presence on our roads in particular has been replaced with speed bumps. Sadly speed bumps do little to address anything other than vehicle speed at that particular spot. They can’t respond quickly to reports of serious crime like armed robberies, they can’t pull over unregistered and defective vehicles, they can’t breath test a suspected drink driver. Tuggeranong has been forsaken by the police (although granted, that may we be because of funded capacity issues rather than lack of caring).

bj_ACT, not sure what the Wanniassa shooting by police 6 years ago has to do with the increased crime here in the South? That individual was suffering from mental issues and lunged at police with a knife, not robbing a servo of its cash.

dungfungus said :

And now this:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-11/canberra-shooting-bonython-police/8892292

Police say not OMCG related so let’s just call it a copy cat shooting. Bonython is in Tuggeranong, BTW.

Well this is a worry that the shooting wsn’t bikie related. Coz if it was a bike job at least it would be human rights compliant.

bigred said :

If the constabulary feels it is under resourced, why doesn’t the CPO come out and say so to the public? After all, they had no problem making sure the public knew when they had a problem with their Minister in the previous Assembly or when they want new laws. I keep hearing the rank and file police saying there is not enough of them. I do know there is a fair proportion of the community that are not satisfied with what is being delivered.

My personal view is that it is time for some sort of externally run bench marking exercise to provide an idea on what is likely to be the correct resourcing level, and satisfy the community its investment is well allocated and appropriate, or otherwise.

Probably, the CFMEU has already said it is OK as it is.

If the constabulary feels it is under resourced, why doesn’t the CPO come out and say so to the public? After all, they had no problem making sure the public knew when they had a problem with their Minister in the previous Assembly or when they want new laws. I keep hearing the rank and file police saying there is not enough of them. I do know there is a fair proportion of the community that are not satisfied with what is being delivered.

My personal view is that it is time for some sort of externally run bench marking exercise to provide an idea on what is likely to be the correct resourcing level, and satisfy the community its investment is well allocated and appropriate, or otherwise.

And now this:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-11/canberra-shooting-bonython-police/8892292

Police say not OMCG related so let’s just call it a copy cat shooting. Bonython is in Tuggeranong, BTW.

Tooks said that my statement that seeing more Motorcycle Gang Members in my neighbourhood than I see Police was ‘hyperbole’. I’m afraid it’s not hyperbole when it’s actually true.

I imagine there are other Tuggies residents who can’t remember the last time they saw a police officer in their street, but can remember hearing or seeing a bikie nearby. Tooks you even said yourself that there were only two police cars on duty in Tuggeranong most days. I bet there is more than two Bikies on the Tuggeranong roads at the same time. You are trying to walk both sides of the street.

I was at Homeworld on the weekend when a Bikie mounted the kerb and bypassed the boomgate not far from pedestrians. His bike was so loud he could have been heard from inside the nearby Police Station. But did the police come out and charge him for noise and traffic violations? No. He probably also rode straight past the station and was quickly ignored as too problematical to deal with.

You potentially seem to be a spokesperson or spindoctor for the Police. I sincerely support you in your argument for more Police resources from ACT Government, but it does us all a disservice if you don’t recognise that based on actual crime events in Tuggers, the ACT police are not doing enough to protect Tuggeranong residents and businesses from all sorts of criminals, bikies, druggies, hoodlums etc .

bj_ACT said :

Tooks said :

Close, Dungus. There’d be two patrols for 90,000 people and one Sgt. Yet Labor cut $15m from the police budget a few years ago. ACT has the least police per capit than any other city yet people wonder why they never see patrols around and crime rates are rising.

Each general duties cop would have a workload of around 20 active cases in addition to dealing with jobs as they come up. Doesn’t leave much room for proactive policing. People will happily bash the police though rather than ask so,e serious questions of this government.

I think you are probably right Tooks. Government really needs to be hauled over the coals for their Police funding and commitments to a safer environment for Canberrans in the outer suburbs. Especially when this government moves some pretty hardcore housing commission people out of the City and down to Tuggeranong without the associated support and facilities the tenants used to get when they lived in the city.

But in saying that about local Labor, the ACT Police should be responsible for how they actually assign and use their limited budget and where they target policing priorities. Which based on recent Tuggeranong crime events such as assault, robberies, shootings, bike gangs etc has been severely lacking for a while.

I see plenty of ACT Police walking and sitting around Civic each working day, but very few out in the distant burbs.

Key point: it’s a sad day for Canberra when you realise that you see more Motorcycle Gang Members in your neighbourhood than you see Police.

…and more enforcing done by OMCG members than the police.