Hobart crime stats tumble

CRIME is on the decline in central Hobart despite budget pressures and public disorder dominating the headlines in recent months.

Tasmania Police has come under fire in the past over allegations it worries too much about community perceptions of safety irrespective of reality but the latest statistics suggest Hobart is safer than ever before.

Hobart CIB boss Peter Powell said the figures were the result of a combined effort between uniformed police, detectives, and members of the Hobart Liquor Accord and community attitudes, with people increasingly unwilling to tolerate property damage and mindless drunken violence.

Coming out of the traditionally high-crime summer party season, compared with the same period last year the stats for the Hobart Division show:

Total offences are down 684.
Property damage offences are down 92.
Home burglaries are down 68.
Businesses burglaries are down 33.
Car burglaries have almost halved down 106.
Offences against the person are down 34, with public place assaults down 29 on this time last year.

“The Hobart division has certainly had a significant drop in offending across multiple categories that are of particularly strong interest to members of the community,” Detective Inspector Powell said.

“The Southern District as a whole is trending downwards but the city area is doing particularly well and that’s very good news for Hobart residents.”

Det-Insp Powell said a significant factor in the success was a proactive approach to targeting repeat offenders, with detectives identifying trouble-makers and letting uniformed police know who to look out for.

With budget cuts meaning fewer front-line police the service now needs to identify problem areas and put its officers in the right place.

“The Public Order Response Team has really focused its resources on the waterfront area again this year and as we can see from the statistics and people’s experiences of going out at night, the streets are much safer,” Det-Insp Powell said.

Reference

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