Drug seizures went down, drug-related diversions went up and the number of intoxicated people taken under protective custody into the City Watchhouse jumped significantly in the latest annual report data released by ACT police.
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The Australian Federal Police was paid $166.279 million to provide policing services to the ACT in 2018-19, up from $158.9 million the previous financial year.
That doesn't include the top-ups provided outside the contract which includes $33.9 million over four years to transition to a more "community-focused" model and to fund 60 more operational and support staff, and a further $2.695 million to equip all front-line officers with Tasers and body-worn cameras.
Data in the annual report revealed reported offences against people are trending upwards, not just compared with last financial year but over a 10-year period as the territory's population has grown.
Sexual assaults increased from 500 in 2017-18 to 548 in 2018-19, and home-based assaults rose very slightly from 1242 to 1253 over the same period. Across all offence types against people, crime was up by 2.6 per cent.
Across other offence types, armed robbery dipped by 18.7 per cent and house burglaries by 3.9 per cent, although break-ins to shops jumped by 41.1 per cent to 405 over the reporting period.
Motor vehicle theft, which had been steadily rising over the previous three reporting periods, fell during 2018-19 when 1209 vehicles were stolen, a decline of 18.5 per cent over the previous comparable period.
The clearance of cases related to property dipped from 16.7 per cent to 13.9 per cent, which dropped the ACT below its stipulated 15 per cent clearance target and suggests police had to "sit" on cases for longer while waiting for technical or forensic evidence to be processed.
The ACT relies on these resources from the federal police, and it is not uncommon for the territory's cases to be re-prioritised if national cases demand more attention.
The clearance rate of offences against people also declined from an impressive 76.9 per cent in the previous reporting period to 71.8 per cent in 2018-19. The territory also fell short of its required clearance target of 72 per cent.
ACT police achieved an excellent response to triple-0 calls and life-threatening emergency or priority one calls but dipped badly on the less urgent priority two cases which require a response within 20 minutes.
Within the national survey of community satisfaction with policing, 2400 people were surveyed across the ACT.
The survey found public perceptions of public safety are stronger in the ACT than across the rest of the nation. Confidence in ACT police sits at 86.7 per cent, compared with the national average of 84.1 per cent.
