Page 4803 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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ACT Policing’s capacity to respond to the increasing demands, with two dedicated order liaison officers to assist applicants in applying for family violence orders.
This complements the changes ACT Policing had already implemented with the development of the family violence coordination unit in October 2015 to ensure that officers implemented best practice policies and procedures when responding to incidents of family violence. In addition to this, the government has committed funds as part of the justice reinvestment trial to employ a dedicated female Aboriginal liaison officer with ACT Policing to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
Motor vehicle theft is another area where we have seen recent increases after seeing significant reductions of 27.2 per cent from a 2010 baseline under the previous property crime reduction strategy 2012-2015. Motor vehicle theft is again a key focus of the property crime prevention strategy 2016-2020. The government is working in collaboration with ACT Policing to reduce the number of motor vehicle thefts so they are at or below the national rate.
An example of ACT Policing’s ability to remain agile and to respond to increases in crime within existing resources is the task force it established in early 2017 to address robbery and motor vehicle theft by focusing on volume crime and recidivist offenders. The task force has achieved a number of successes. As at 30 June, 40 individuals have been arrested, with 20 individuals remanded, and 268 charges were laid by ACT Policing, with further charges likely pending as operational results and forensic information are received. Nine search warrants were executed and more than $1.4 million worth of stolen vehicles and property recovered, the majority of which has been returned to the owners.
As we are all aware, in recent times a number of motorcycle gang incidents have been reported. To assist ACT Policing to respond to this criminal gang activity, the government has invested an extra $6.4 million to further boost Taskforce Nemesis and purchase a range of physical and electronic capabilities.
Taskforce Nemesis has been very effective. There are currently seven ACT outlaw motorcycle gang members remanded in the ACT and one member remanded in New South Wales. Recent successes of the task force include a known motorcycle gang associate arrested and charged with two offences; the Nomads motorcycle gang president being arrested and charged with several offences; and a former high-ranking office holder of the Rebels being arrested and charged with multiple offences.
Most recently, during September this year a number of search warrants were conducted in relation to motorcycle gang activity, members and associates. Results from the search warrants include: a high ranking member of the Comancheros being summonsed for tax offences; a high ranking member of the Nomads being arrested for several offences; and multiple seizures of drugs, prohibited weapons, ammunition and firearms.
In addition to investing in increasing the capacity of Taskforce Nemesis, the government is working with ACT Policing on practical legislative and operational
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