Crime figures show significant reduction
The Pilbara district has recorded a significant reduction in a number of key crime statistics for the 2011-12 financial year.
Crimes such as burglary, motor vehicle theft, damage and general theft were all down while the rate of burglaries solved increased.
Pilbara District Inspector Peter Morrissey said the falls could be attributed to good policing and targeted public campaigns to lock-up houses and cars.
“We are still getting a numbers of burglaries and stolen motor vehicles where people continue to leave their property unlocked so if we can get through to those people it all goes well for further reductions,” he said.
Karratha had a 42 per cent reduction in burglary compared with the previous year’s figures, while a 17.5 per cent reduction was recorded when compared to the five year average.
“That shows that we are back to the levels that we were at some time ago when the population was a lot less,” Insp. Morrissey said.
Roebourne also recorded a 46 per cent reduction in burglaries while achieving a 40 per cent sanction rate.
“One thing to also bear in mind is that no only did we have a reduction of burglaries, investigations in Karratha had a 33 per cent sanction rate,” Insp. Morrissey said.
“That might not sound like a lot but when the State average is about 13 or 14 per cent we are double that which is a remarkable result.
“The guys are working very hard.”
Insp. Morrissey said non-domestic assaults across the district were down while domestic assaults were slightly up.
He said while domestic assaults did rise it wasn’t necessarily bad news.
“We actually regard that as somewhat of a positive because we believe people are a little more confident in involving themselves in the system and reporting domestic assaults,” Insp. Morrissey said.
“Sometimes because of the relationship there is a cycle of domestic violence and perpetrators sometimes get away with it; we have got to break that cycle.”
Insp. Morrissey said it was of slight concern there was an increase in the detection of illegal drugs but it was still a positive that the drugs were being taken off the streets.
“It certainly indicates the prevalence of drugs but with the lower volume crime we can now put more resources into this area,” he said.
