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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 3 Hansard (7 March) . . Page.. 752 ..
Graffiti offences
(Question No 43)
Mr Cornwell asked the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Corrections, upon notice, on 19 February 2002:
(1) How many (a) graffiti offences were reported to police and (b) were all reports investigated.
(2) In how many cases were individuals (a) identified, (b) questioned and (c) charged.
(3) How many of these individuals were successfully prosecuted.
(4) What were the penalties imposed in each of these successful prosecutions.
(5) What was the cost to the taxpayer of graffiti cleanup.
Mr Quinlan: The answer to the member's question is as follows:
(b) AFP records indicate that a patrol was dispatched in relation to 93 of these incidents. Reported offences are investigated in accordance with a priority response model. An investigation in relation to a reported graffiti incident would only occur in certain circumstances due to the opportunistic nature of the offence and the fact that few offences are reported as being in progress. In cases where there is a lack of witnesses or other physical evidence reported to police which is likely to lead to the identification of an offender police resources may be directed to other higher priority incidents.
The table below indicates the current status of investigations in relation to the recorded incidents.
Status Total
Enquiries continuing 4No further action required 19
Offender cannot be identified 60
Offender indentified 36 (33 have been apprehended)
Source: PROMIS as at 5 March 2002
(2)(a,b & c)
There were 33 identified offenders charged with 54 offences during the 2001 calendar year.
PROMIS does not record statistics in a way which enables a report to be generated of the number of occasions where a potential witness or suspect was questioned in relation to a particular offence type. It is however, common practice to offer people suspected of committing an offence the opportunity to participate in a taped record of interview. It would therefore be the case that each of the 33 people apprehended would have been offered the opportunity to participate in a taped interview.
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