Page 891 - Week 03 - Thursday, 30 March 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
business owners or operators, shoppers or other users of public places, there are people in the community who are worried about the level of crime in our shopping centres.
In recent months we have had isolated reports of ram-raids at local shops and repeated victimisation by juveniles of some local businesses. A more common theme emerging from some shopping centres is reports of young people congregating at these locations, more often for social and recreational purposes than to cause problems. However, occasionally some groups have been identified as abusing or harassing other users of these facilities.
Mr Pratt raised earlier problems at Erindale and said it was a typical area for crime, which I found pretty interesting because I spent Saturday morning there at my normal shopping centre stall and there were stacks of constituents who came to see me, there were several shop owners and shop workers, and also there were regular police patrols through the car parks and on foot through the shopping centre. Of all the people who attended my stall, not one constituent or shopping centre worker mentioned anything about crime in the area. That was pretty interesting.
Preventing isolated problems from becoming systemic issues, as they have become in some other cities, is a challenge for all of us, not just the police. I know that police are working closely with schools in my electorate of Brindabella to develop good relationships with young people and increase their understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Recently, we have also had police undertaking proactive campaigns, focusing on locations where youths frequently congregate, to head off any emerging tendencies towards antisocial behaviour.
These are good initiatives and early signs are that they are having a positive effect on young people’s behaviour and on relations between young people and the police. The police need to be supported in these initiatives by businesses, schools and families and also by members of this Assembly. As Minister Corbell has stated, policing is a partnership between law enforcement professionals and the rest of the community. Messages about the rights and responsibilities of all citizens should be reinforced at every opportunity.
In relation to the safety and security of our shopping precincts and other public places, we all have responsibilities. The police have a responsibility to respond to crime when it is reported to them and to act proactively to disrupt crime before it happens. Business operators need to ensure they are not easy targets for criminals by taking appropriate security measures for their staff and their property. Parents and schools need to monitor our young people, who unfortunately seem to be well represented as perpetrators of problems in these places. Our government needs to ensure the provision of appropriate services, good lighting, safe and secure access, and information for businesses and citizens.
Members of this Assembly can also play an important role by encouraging our constituents to assist police by reporting crime and suspicious behaviour and working cooperatively with the police in developing good relationships with the community and by supporting the many good initiatives being rolled out by ACT Policing. I have seen this work firsthand with Operation Globin in the southern Tuggeranong suburbs.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .