Page 4560 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 26 November 2019
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Crime—north Canberra
MS LEE: My question is to the minister for police. Minister, in March last year I contacted you on behalf of a constituent about disturbances and illegal transactions being carried out at a particular house in North Lyneham. In May you replied, advising that police patrols would be increased and that neighbours should report suspicious activities to Crime Stoppers.
My constituent contacted me again in April this year, advising that not only had the situation not improved but it had, in fact, become worse and more widespread. This time you took four months to reply. My constituent contacted me again a further three months later to say nothing had changed. Minister, what is your plan to address reports of repeated illegal activity in North Lyneham?
Mrs Dunne: Ignore them, it seems.
MR GENTLEMAN: Contrary to Mrs Dunne’s interjection, we simply do not ignore requests from the community to combat crime across the ACT. We continue to invest in our police force. In regard to this particular matter, I would have to have a look at the response from ACT police for particular matters. I do not go into operational matters.
However, if a member of this parliament writes to me I will respond as soon as possible. That would involve an amount of research about particular operations that are occurring in the suburbs. As I mentioned, my view is that ACT Policing are doing a good job. The stats show that as well. And we will continue to invest in ACT Policing.
MS LEE: Minister, when will the residents of north Lyneham see the benefits of your plan in light of reports of repeated illegal activity?
MR GENTLEMAN: I encourage residents to continue to report any incidents they can. Crime Stoppers is the best number, unless it is an emergency. Triple zero is the best number to report in that case. We will see, of course, the results of the work that ACT Policing does in response to crime across the ACT in our datasets each year. I would expect those to continue to drop, as the theme has been, following the investments that we are putting into ACT police.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, are the residents of north Canberra wrong to be disappointed when they report illegal activity over and over again and it is not addressed?
MR GENTLEMAN: I would not say that it is not addressed at all. Of course, police will address illegal activity whenever resources allow. That is why we are providing more resources for them into the future. Because we are a growing city, we understand that crime trends change. Police need to be adaptable and flexible when it comes to looking at those trends and ensure that they have the best operational capability in going forward to combat crime. That is why we on this side of the
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