Motor vehicle thefts, burglaries and property damage have all been cut dramatically, after a targeted crackdown on the territorys high rates of property crime.
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Crime statistics published yesterday show the number of motor vehicle thefts has been cut by 37.3per cent, burglaries by 32.7 per cent and property damage by 21.8per cent since July 2009.
That equates to 700 fewer cars being stolen, 1500 fewer home burglaries, and 2000 fewer property damage incidents in the 2010-11 financial year.
Yet the number of assaults inside Canberra homes increased by 5.7per cent and armed robberies also increased by 7.5 per cent since last financial year.
The ACT Government and ACT Policing yesterday jumped on the reduction of property crime rates as evidence of the success of a targeted campaign by ACT authorities.
That campaign has focused on recidivist offenders, including 12 Canberran families who The Canberra Times revealed to be responsible for one in four property crimes in the ACT.
ACT Policing had said earlier this year it was taking a unique, whole-of-government approach to dealing with these recidivist families, using case workers and employment and educational opportunities to prevent re-offending.
Police also attributed the plummeting crime rates to the establishment of a dedicated property crime team, a stronger intelligence-led approach to property crime and more effective enforcement of bail conditions.
Police Minister Simon Corbell said a very high-priority campaign had been conducted against property crime, a crime type which he said affected a majority of Canberrans.
"We have seen higher-than-average rates of both motor vehicle theft and burglary in our community compared to the national average," Mr Corbell said.
"These are the crimes most likely to affect ordinary citizens," he said. "Violent crimes, sexual crimes and more serious crimes are less likely to affect large numbers of people in our community, even though they do great harm to those that they do affect."
But Mr Corbell and acting Chief Police Officer David McLean admitted the reduced crime rates were not being reflected in the perceptions of Canberrans. "It's a difficult and challenging phenomenon, the whole issue of perceptions of crime," Commander McLean said.
A new property crime strategy is currently being developed by the Justice and Community Safety directorate, and Commander McLean said the focus on property crime must be maintained.
"I'm quite confident that were we to turn our attention away for any sustained period of time, even perhaps a brief period of time, then people would take advantage of that," he said.
Yesterday's figures also showed ACT Policing was meeting 28 of its 34 key performance indicators.