Page 4376 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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steal the keys for newer cars that cannot be hot-wired. In response to this, a key piece of work under the strategy is a property crime prevention awareness campaign. JACS and ACT Policing have been working collaboratively on this campaign, which aims at improving community awareness about what people can do to safeguard their property.
I will be launching this with the minister for police in the coming weeks, with the first area of focus being motor vehicle theft. I look forward to highlighting this important issue. The campaign will also focus on several other key areas over the next 12 to 18 months, including theft from cars, home security, theft from apartment buildings, tradie tool theft and small business security.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the great work that has occurred across government, driven by the objectives of the strategy. Community and neighbourhood connections were strengthened through the government’s continued support for national Neighbour Day. In 2019 we had 368 registered Neighbour Day events take place, with 15,111 participants across the ACT.
Improvements are being made so that data and information about property crime are more available and user friendly for the community. This includes enhancements to ACT Policing’s website statistics. In addition, a strategic review of the ACT criminal justice statistical profile is underway and will result in further improvements for how and when property crime data is published.
We have seen some great collaborative responses to address crime trends, including a new network made up of JACS, Housing ACT, ACT Health and ACT Policing to address antisocial and criminal behaviours in some of our high-density housing areas. Those who are more vulnerable to property crime continue to be supported, with the government providing recurrent funding in the 2018-19 budget to continue and expand the strong connected neighbourhoods initiative to Illawarra Court at Belconnen. In 2018-19, through the HomeSafe program, 182 home safety assessments were provided free of charge for people vulnerable to property crime, and minor modifications were carried out on 37 properties to increase home security.
The quality of data and intelligence to improve crime prevention activities continues to be a priority for ACT Policing. In 2017 the crime disruption team was established, with a primary focus on recidivist offending, and has had successes in the areas of disrupting robbery offences and ram raids across the ACT. These are just a few examples of the great work being carried out under this strategy. The government will continue to play our role in making places more difficult and less appealing for criminal activity, raising awareness and empowering the community to safeguard their property.
It would be nice if people did not have to take steps to safeguard their property. I wish we could stamp out crime altogether. In reality, property crime needs to be everybody’s business. Government, police, community organisations and individuals all have a role to play in preventing property crime. Although Canberra is one of the safest places to live and we experience lower crime rates than other jurisdictions, we do face some challenges and need to ensure that we do not become complacent. I look
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