As Canberrans bunkered down and worked from home, break-ins across the territory fell to their lowest ever recorded level during September however, family violence offences continued to run at pre-lockdown levels.
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Some of the more troubling statistics which emerged from the September police data revealed that levels of family violence still remain unchanged, with 253 incidents reported.
This is significantly higher than the 218 incidents reported during the national lockdown in July last year and potentially provides an indication of so-called "lockdown fatigue" causing family-related stress. There were 175 family violence offences reported for September, with 55 related assaults, and 42 offenders arrested.
This compares with 210 family violence offences in the same month last year, with 64 assaults and 48 arrests.
There were 112 burglaries across the territory during the first full month of the pandemic lockdown, with Belconnen numbers almost half those usually recorded in the zone and Tuggeranong posting its lowest ever tally.
The ACT's previous low for burglaries was 120 in June last year during the height of the first national pandemic lockdown.
The dip in burglaries comes as ACT police prepare the groundwork for bringing all reporting of household burglaries online next year. After completing an online report, the system will automatically issue a police report number for insurance purposes.
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The territory lockdown has had a major effect on crime generally in Canberra with 1846 total offences recorded in September, again the lowest on record.
Across the eight patrol zones defined by police, Belconnen posted its lowest-ever offences total, as did the inner north (454), inner south (204), Weston (72), Woden (152), and Tuggeranong (317).
Other offences which plummeted during the month as Canberrans stayed at home, schools and non-essential businesses were closed and police redirected resources into COVID compliance, included assault and offences against a person (which includes kidnapping, harassment and otherwise threatening behaviour).
There were 162 assaults in Canberra last month, the lowest monthly total in six years.
Enforcement of driving offences has also dropped dramatically as police resources were switched away from internal road policing duties to border compliance, which is largely the role of the traffic officers.
Total traffic infringements issued by police during September were 138, compared with 697 for the same month last year.
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Speeding tickets issued by police numbered just 34 for the month, compared with 268 for the same month last year.
However, last month's police-issued fines are not indicative of overall levels of speeding across the territory as the number of speeding motorists caught on traffic cameras remains high.
September also produced the lowest-ever level of drink-drivers apprehended across the territory, with just 31 arrested.
Road-related injury trauma has fallen dramatically, with just 13 road crashes resulting in injury across Canberra, also the lowest monthly total on record and well below the levels recorded during last year's national lockdown.
Tuggeranong had just one road injury for the entire month, which is extraordinary for such a large patrol area with more than 85,000 residents.
However, road-related deaths in the ACT remains at a high level with nine deaths so far this year, two more than for all of 2020.
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