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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3751 ..
MR STEFANIAK (continuing):
provision of nearly half a million dollars for "An aware community is a safe community", $449,000 for addressing the needs of special interest groups, and $221,000 to assist groups at risk in the community. The government and the AFP believe that these projects will help in the fight against crime in the ACT.
For example, we will provide $210,000 on a communications strategy with high impact promotional material entitled "Crime - What can I do". Those materials will involve things as simple as drink coasters, brochures and posters to be distributed throughout public venues like shopping centres, clubs, pubs, restaurants and crime hot spots. The police and the community, working together, will ensure that each and every resident in the ACT is aware about what they can do to prevent themselves from being a victim of crime.
Neighbourhood crime prevention is terribly important, and that has been allocated $92,000. That will enable a fully equipped bus to visit shopping centres and crime hot spots to enable police to speak with residents near their homes about crime and local solutions to it. That dovetails with some very effective uses of buses outside shopping centres and in suburban areas to try to get information in relation to specific crimes. That has been very successful. This is a really big enhancement of that. That bus will go out generally to a lot of crime areas and shopping centres and police will seek the views of residents. Residents lead to many crimes being solved. Quite often police find that a crime is solved because a member of the public comes forward and indicates that a certain suspect was at such and such a place. That person is then very quickly apprehended and placed before the courts.
Mr Speaker, there will also be funds for crime research, a motor vehicle immobiliser program and crime prevention road shows. Under the banner of addressing the needs of special interest groups, we are providing funds to further cement links between police and the community, with a particular focus on our youth and the elderly. We will be spending more than $166,00 on building a better understanding in our young children about police, especially children of those crucial ages of between three and 11, those formative years.
Mr Berry: How is the time going, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes. All right.
MR STEFANIAK: There is a need to ensure that children are prepared to trust the police and know that they can approach our law enforcers if they have concerns. Most kids will do that, but it is crucial to get that out to all sections of the community to ensure that that can occur.
MR SPEAKER: Four minutes, minister.
MR STEFANIAK
: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will not be much longer. There are no more abhorrent crimes, Mr Speaker, than crimes against our elderly citizens, people who have done so much to help our society, by cowardly, gutless thugs. We are determined to protect those elderly citizens and ensure that they know about safety and security in the home. Accordingly, we have allocated an extra $120,000 to the CLASP clientele subsidy. CLASP is the in - home safety assessment program for older people. It includes
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