Page 712 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 May 1992
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Mr Kaine: The financial year is not over yet.
MR CONNOLLY: So, you are enthusing for more, are you, Mr Kaine? We are in fact now running below last year's rate. In no case can you say that the armed robbery rate is satisfactory. One is one too many. But it is incorrect for people to assume that there is currently a higher rate of armed robberies than historically has been the case in Canberra. In fact, this year is running lower than last year. The year before that there were only eight, for whatever reason. That was the period in which Ms Follett was responsible for police; so perhaps that says something there. The previous year there were 35. So, it does go up and down; but there has been no dramatic increase and, indeed, the current rate is running below the previous year's.
The really good news, Madam Speaker, is that the Australian Federal Police has an outstanding record in clearing up these matters. The current year clear-up rate for offences up to 15 May 1992 is 41 per cent, and that is a remarkably high rate for this type of offence.
Mr Humphries: I am glad you think so.
MR CONNOLLY: The previous full year clear-up rate was running at 28 per cent, which again is above the national average. Mr Humphries says, "I am glad you think so". The fact is that the AFP do better in clearing up this type of offence than any other State police force, and I would have thought that that was something that we could be proud of - that our police force is doing better than any other police force. Mr Humphries seems to want to bag the AFP, the same as he wants to bag the Government.
The fact remains that the clear-up rate is better here than in Sydney or Melbourne and that fact should be known to the community because there is a perception put about that Canberra is in some way a soft target. It is not. You stand a much better chance of being caught in this town for armed robbery offences than you do in other - - -
Mr Humphries: It is perception that matters.
MR CONNOLLY: It is indeed the perception that matters, and that is why I am making it clear to this Assembly, and through this Assembly to the Canberra community, that the AFP has such a high success rate in clearing up these matters. You have about an even chance of being caught in the ACT, which is far, far higher odds than in any other part of Australia. As I say, the 41 per cent clear-up rate in the current financial year is remarkably good.
So, Madam Speaker, the Canberra community can be assured that not only is there no dramatic increase in the rate of this type of offence - it is running below last year's - but there is a dramatic improvement in the clear-up rate for this type of offence. I would point out that that 41 per cent clear-up rate to 15 May, I hope, will get better because senior police are confident that for some of the more recent matters that they are diligently pursuing we can expect further arrests.
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