Crime falling across Australia
4 March 2012
Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice Jason Clare today released the Australian Institute of Criminology’s (AIC) annual report into crime trends which shows the crime rates continue to fall across most major categories.
“This is a good result for law enforcement agencies across the country, but we still have a lot more work to do – the recent shootings are proof of that,” Mr Clare said.
“That’s why a couple of weeks ago I announced that the Australian Crime Commission would conduct a National Intelligence Assessment of the illegal firearm market and its links to gang activity in Australia.
“The Federal Government and State and Territory Governments are also working together on nationally consistent legislation to tackle criminal organisations.”
The key statistics in the AIC’s Australian Crime: Facts and Figures report are:
Break-ins have been cut by about half since 1996;
Car theft has dropped by about 61 per cent over the past decade;
The overall number of violent crimes decreased in 2010 except for the offence of kidnapping and abduction;
Of the five categories of violent crime, four recorded a drop in the number of victims between 2009 and 2010 – homicide, assault, sexual assault and robbery;
The most common weapon used in homicide in 2009–10 was a knife. Knives were involved in 39 per cent of all homicides;
Firearms used in 13 per cent of all homicides;
There has been a 27 per cent drop in the number of homicides between 1996 and 2010, with a drop of 11 per cent between 2009 and 2010;
The homicide rate is 1.2 per 100,000 population;
The number of victims of robbery in 2010 is the lowest on record since 1996, with 14,582 victims. Robbery victim numbers peaked in 2001 with 26,591 victims;
Murder and sexual assault occurred most frequently within residential settings - 61 percent of murders occurred in a residential dwelling and 63 percent of sexual assaults occurred in a residential dwelling;
Assault rates decreased from 801 per 100,000 people in 2009 to 766 per 100,000 in 2010;
In 2010, there were 17,757 recorded sexual assaults, down from 18,807 the previous year;
The rate of fraud victimisation dropped by 11 per cent from 2009 to 2011 and, since peaking in 1998-99, has declined by 35 per cent;
In 2009–10, the offending rate for people aged 15 to 19 years was almost four times the rate for all other offenders (6,751 compared with 1,821 offenders per 100,000);
In 2009–10, 2,767 arrests involving heroin were made – an 81 percent decrease in arrests over the past decade;
In 2009–10, cannabis accounted for the highest number of drug-related arrests with 57,170 arrests - an increase of three percent from 2008–09; and
In 2009-10 the number of cocaine arrests increased by 47 per cent rising to 1,244 from 848 in 2008-09 but cocaine arrests remain lower than for any other drug type.
This annual publication is compiled from information provided by sources in each state and territory, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The full report can be accessed online at www.aic.gov.au and a summary of the report’s findings is attached.
Updated Sat Mar 3, 2012 12:15am AEDT Police say highway patrolman Senior Constable David Rixon was shot several times outside of a block of flats at Coledale in Tamworth about 8:00am (AEDT) on Friday.
Senior Constable Rixon, who had over 20 years of experience in the force, was taken to Tamworth Hospital for treatment but died soon after.
Another man who was shot is under police guard in hospital undergoing emergency treatment.
AND
Two women taken hostage during an armed hold-up at a Gold Coast pub, in which a police officer was shot and critically injured, are walking detectives through the crime scene.
Plain clothes Senior Constable Damian Leeding, 35, remains in a critical condition in the intensive care unit at Gold Coast Hospital after being shot in the face with a sawn-off shotgun at the Pacific Pines Tavern late last night.
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Crews is the first police officer in New South Wales killed while on duty since 2002
Australian Police continued to have a heavy presence in a western Sydney suburb today following a drug raid which resulted in the death of a colleague.
Officers from Middle Eastern Organised Crimes Squad were executing a search warrant when Constable William Crews, 26, was shot in his neck and head.
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Sydney-police-officer-shot-dead/tabid/417/articleID/175231/Default.aspx#ixzz2G4px6jV2
7News : Sydney home sprayed by 'machine gun' fire
News video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8vlFw9XIcY