Page 883 - Week 03 - Thursday, 30 March 2006
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areas identified by reports on a priority basis. This applies to all aspects of policing, including residential areas, on our roads and in public places such as the shops.
Over the past year ACT Policing has adopted a number of new strategies to increase the visibility of police on Canberra’s streets, engaging more closely with the community, improving their responsiveness and targeting known “hot spots”. But one message that members really need to understand in this debate is that, just because you do not see the police, it does not mean they are not doing something or that they are not focusing on these issues and not addressing them. Just because you do not see them walking the beat every day does not mean that they are not targeting crime in known hot spots.
For example, over recent months members of ACT Policing’s Operation Halite have undertaken saturation policing operations in Canberra’s inner north and Red Hill shopping precincts. These operations have involved police members being visibly present in the suburbs, obtaining intelligence and disrupting criminal and antisocial activities. It has also involved police members meeting with shop owners and other business operators in the suburbs to discuss concerns and obtain information on criminal activity. That is a marked difference from the picture that those opposite paint. Similar operations have been, and will continue to be, conducted in other suburbs as needs are identified by an ACT Police intelligence-led approach.
From November 2005 to February 2006 ACT Policing’s regional proactive team also made a major contribution to policing of shopping precincts, particularly in relation to popular nightspots such as Civic, Braddon, Kingston and Manuka. The regional proactive team was tasked, among other duties, with saturation and high visibility patrolling of district shopping centres, bus interchanges and nightclub precincts. The public profile of this team has drawn many positive comments from members of the public who have approached police members within district shopping centres and complimented them on their duties. Again, that is a marked difference from the picture painted by Mr Pratt and members of the opposition in this debate.
Patrols are also undertaken by members in plain clothes to gather information on offenders and other valuable intelligence. ACT Policing has also established relationships with the management of shopkeepers of major town centre shopping malls and regularly conducts foot patrols at the centres and surrounding areas such as car parks. It is simply unfair to expect the police to be there in every location 24 hours of the day, seven days of the week, but this would appear to be the unrealistic expectation of Mr Pratt and those opposite.
Ongoing liaison between ACT Policing and shopkeepers and business operators is also occurring across the ACT, with notable initiatives undertaken in Civic by the City Beat team as well as teams in Tuggeranong, Woden and Belconnen. All of these initiatives involve regular consultation between police and local businesses to share information, to develop strategies and build cooperation. Police have also taken opportunities to address staff of major centres on security and crime prevention issues.
While ACT Policing is undertaking all of these activities to help provide a safe and secure environment for the ACT community, the fact is that policing is ideally conducted as a partnership between law enforcement agencies, other government agencies, businesses and members of the community. ACT Policing works closely with ACT
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