Page 4027 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 24 October 1990
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problem. One could understand that the vehicles might be moved across the border and disappear into New South Wales. It would make the task of the Australian Federal Police more difficult. Unfortunately, when one looks at the size of the crime problem documented at page 47, one sees that the ACT, in fact, has a higher than national average clear-up rate in relation to motor vehicle offences. We clear up 14.7 per cent of motor vehicle thefts, compared to a national average of 14 per cent. So, that simple explanation as to why we have a worse clear-up rate than the national average simply is not available. That is an important factor that this committee ought to look at.
The other factor that this committee ought to be looking at is the extent of the crime problem in the ACT. There is cause for some satisfaction. Despite the increasing ACT crime rates, in common with the rest of Australia, this document clearly shows that the ACT is still the safest place in Australia in which to live, and that the crime rate for all types of offences - ranging from homicide down to car theft - is significantly below the national average. In most cases we have the lowest rate of crime in Australia. There is no need for sensationalism or fear at an apparent increase in the crime rate. We are growing, in common with the rest of Australia; but we remain the safest community in which to live.
The concern of the Opposition - and it is a concern that Mr Moore referred to - is that perhaps it is time, when we are looking at the problem of crime, to look at an alternative to the usual simple knee-jerk solution of politicians. I am not making a partisan point here. I think all parties, historically, have been guilty of responding to public concern on crime by producing more police. Whether you have a Liberal Attorney-General, or a Labor Attorney-General, or Minister for justice or police, it always makes a good photograph for the evening news to see the justice Minister in front of more police cars or a newly graduating class of police.
The simple fact, as Mr Moore said, is that constantly increasing the level of resources devoted to the police is not the answer to the crime problem. The situation is very well and clearly expressed by Paul Wilson in his recent autobiography A Life of Crime. I quote from page 9:
Undeniably, a certain level of policing is needed in order to control crime. But international research consistently demonstrates that, once such a level is reached, more police does not mean less crime.
In the comparatively criminal environment of big city streets in the United States, for example, a patrolling officer will come upon a street robbery in progress once every 14 years. His chances of being in a home (where much violence and sexual assault occurs) when a crime takes place is about once in three hundred years.
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