6 September 2017

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

| Glynis Quinlan
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Police wrap
Two men attempted an aggravated robbery of the IGA Supermarket at Isabella Plains last night – injuring one staff member.

Around 7.50 pm last night the two men approached a staff member outside the supermarket, threatening them with an edged weapon and directing them into the store.

Once inside the men then threatened another staff member and demanded cash. During the incident, one of the men assaulted a staff member.

Nothing was taken and the two men fled the store on foot.

Both police and the ACT Ambulance Service were called in, with one staff member treated for minor injuries and transported to Canberra Hospital.

ACT Policing is seeking witnesses to the attempted aggravated robbery. Police say the men were wearing black clothing, including black balaclavas and gloves when they attempted to rob the supermarket, which is located on Ellerston Avenue.

The ACT Policing Criminal Investigations team is investigating the incident and seeking witnesses and CCTV.

Anyone who has any information that could assist police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website. Please quote reference 6148398 and information can be provided anonymously.

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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.

HardBallGets9:15 am 13 Sep 17

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.

Bit of hyperbole there, bj! There are only about 50 OMCG members in the ACT.

As far as assigning resources, you may be right, but general duties police, who are on the frontline and the main visible policing presence, have their arses hanging out constantly. Are traffic cops assigned so that the ACT is getting good coverage? Maybe not, as they are often seen working together in the same places.

The bottom line is, there aren’t nearly enough police to provide a top notch service to this city. 10 years ago our population was around 340,000. The population has grown nearly 20% but we have the same frontline policing numbers as we did back then. Completely unacceptable and due to the weak, almost non-existent Opposition, the issue won’t come to a head. Ever.

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.

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.

Tooks said :

Out of curiosity, how many police patrols would you think are covering Tuggeranong on, say, a day shift?

Unless they are covert by way of plain clothes and unmarked cars I would say “ZERO”.

I see the speed vans almost daily though, but wait, that’s ACT Revenue, not the police.

Out of curiosity, how many police patrols would you think are covering Tuggeranong on, say, a day shift?

What are ACT Police doing in Tuggeranong to reduce crime? (answer = From what I see, not much)

Add to Bikie shootings and a host of other incidents. From memory, I can recall recently in Wanniassa alone:

Two men with weapons rob McDonald’s Erindale
Citizens’ arrest after a violent run-in with the driver of a stolen van at Wanniassa Shops
Armed Robbery Tythereigh Street in Wanniassa
Gun Robbery Wanniassa Red Rooster
Armed Robbery Erindale Leisure Centre
Armed Robbery Erindale SevenEleven
Armed Robbery Coles Wanniassa
Aggravated Robbery Domino’s Erindale
Armed robbery Erindale Vikings

2 Murders, a host of other issues and about six years since Policy shot a man dead in Wanniassa, no one wants to address the issues. When ACT Labor closed Erindale Police Station and re-directed police incidents to the Tuggeranong station, they said it would improve access to police and safety for the area (I think that has clearly been proven a false claim).

So small towns within an hour or so of Tuggeranong (Adaminaby, Berridale, Khancoban) get a police station, but the 90,000 residents of Tuggeranong get just one Police Station with very few police on active duty when you go in, very few police on patrol and if you ever have an car accident in Tuggeranong like I did, good luck getting any Police to show up despite numerous calls.

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