The study by Trends showing a slight crime rise in the ACT is to be expected. Worldwide trends show that crime tends to increase with the size of the city. Those who see advantages in having a larger city, must also see some of the profound disadvantages.
None the less, the ACT still has less crime than the national average. But the Australian Federal Police is not being complacent and has made some changes in response to changes in crime patterns. Police have to undergo constant changes in approach, simply because the criminals they are chasing change their methods.
Even so, further changes in society’s approach to drugs and road traffic are needed. This week the NSW Police Royal Commission has revealed the tragic neglect of crimes against children because of police concentration of resources into the hopeless fight against drugs. When drug abuse is treated as a health problem, not a crime problem, more resources will be available to police other crimes. Moreover, a decline in crimes against property to support drug habits could be expected.
On the traffic front, greater use should be made of automatic electronic devices … speed cameras, red-light cameras (and can yellow-line cameras be far off). Otherwise generally law-abiding people are quite responsive to an increased certainty of being fined. The resulting revenue and freed human resources can go to fighting other crime.