Youth
crime and crime generally are always good ways to scare rural and
regional communities and a scare campaign has been running hot and
cold since the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
(BOSCAR) released the state's 2023 December quarter crime statistics.
The
National Party members of the NSW Parliament have been beating up
these figures and supporting any group who will drink the political
Kool-Aid.
On
23 February 2024 the NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley in Budget
Estimates described the Country Mayors Association calls for an
inquiry into regional crime as calling for nothing more than a
“talkfest”.
By
14 March 2023 the political situation but not the statistics had
changed.
TheCountry Mayors Association of NSW has welcomed the NSW Premier’sannouncement that the NSW Government will implement new initiativesto start to address regional youth crime.
The
mayors' law and order concerns were somewhat recent given the last
annual survey conducted by the CMA saw the 69 rural and
regional local governments who answered this survey placing law and
order low on their priority lists.
Readers
of Murdoch media and local Northern Rivers newspapers may also have
noticed the sudden flurry of journalistic and National Party concern
about local crime rates.
The
Clarence Valley Independent
of 13 March 2024 was a case in point:
News
of an escalation in youth crime in the Clarence Valley has gone right
to the top of the Coffs Clarence Police District, with the Commander,
Superintendent Joanne Schultz involved in implementing prevention and
intervention strategies to prevent re-offending....
Last
month, Member for Clarence, Richie Williamson joined calls by the
Country Mayors Association of NSW for the Minns Labor Government to
launch a parliamentary inquiry into rural and regional crime,
following a spike in crime in the Clarence and Richmond Valley’s.
“The
most recent data from the authorities show that youth crime continues
to rise, especially for stealing motor vehicles and break and enter
offences,” Mr Williamson said.
So
what had changed for the Minns Government?
Well,
firstly the state electorate is now only six months away from the NSW
Local Government elections on Saturday, 14 September 2024 and both
incumbent governments and their political opposition like to play the
'laura norder' card in an election year which sees party politics
playing a significant but rarely openly stated role in council
elections.
Secondly,
the NSW Premier has announced new punitive legal measures aimed at youth offenders when it comes to matters like consideration of bail
applications and certain increased penalties and, what better way to win support for this move and a policy of "proactive policing" of vulnerable groups than to further demonise young offenders.
Thirdly,
a 'helpful' study was released by BOSCAR this month titled "Crime
in Regional and Rural NSW in 2023: Trends and Patterns".
While
this study openly admitted that in the last 20 years property crime
had fallen by 48 per cent in regional NSW, this was seen as deficient
because property crime had fallen by 67 per cent in Greater Sydney
over the same period and as due to the different rates of decline, in
2023 the rate of recorded property crime was 59 per cent higher in
Regional NSW compared to Greater Sydney. A most unfortunate
statistical clash.
The
study also stated: In 2023 the aggregate rate of recorded
violent crime in Regional NSW was equivalent to the recorded rate in
2004. In Greater Sydney, however, violent crime declined
significantly in the two decades to 2023 (down 20% from 2004 to
2023). The long-term decline in violence in Sydney and relative
stability in Regional NSW has increased the disparity between the
rate of violent crime in the regions versus
the capital city. In 2023 the rate of recorded violent crime was 57%
higher in Regional NSW compared with Greater Sydney.
Leaving
a distinct impression that the comparisons being made are beginning to resemble the
apple and orange variety and are unhelpful to anyone except state and
local government politicians on the make in a local council election year.
The
icing on the cake was the following paragraph, which totalled five years of
crime statistics to achieve impressive numbers which are broken down
in red annotations:
Four
major offences, however, significantly increased in Regional NSW over
the five years from 2019
to
2023:
o
Motor vehicle theft (up 20% or 1,239 additional incidents) An
est. average increase of 248 offences per year across 95 regional
local government areas. In this category and unspecified number of
youth offenders are alleged to be found.
o
Non-domestic assault (up 14% or 1,825 additional incidents) An
est. average increase of 365 offences per year across 95 regional
local government areas. On a yearly average est. 204 were youth
offenders.
o
Sexual assault (up 47% or 1,505 additional incidents) An
est. average increase of 301 offences per year across 95 regional
local government areas. In this category it is solely adult
offending.
o
Domestic violence related assault (up 24% or additional incidents)
An
est. average increase of 659 offences per year across 95 regional
local government areas. On a yearly average est. 86 were youth
offenders.
For those interested BOSCAR released a set of graphs which breakdown the trends into more specific crime categories at:
https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Publication%20Supporting%20Documents/RCS-quarterly/Supplementary%20charts%20-%20Recorded%20Crime%20Charts%202019%20to%202023.pdf
As for "stealing motor vehicles and break and enter offences" the Nationals MLA for Clarence points to in relation to youth crime, BOSCAR data for January to December 2023 show NSW Police proceeded against a total of 27 vehicle thefts in the Clarence Valley LGA, with 9 of these thefts alleged to be by young offenders aged between 10-17 years of age. While break and enter offences proceeded against totalled 33 offences, with 9 of these break and enters alleged to be by young offenders aged between 10-17 years of age.
As for motor vehicle theft and break and enter statistics for the Coffs Clarence Police District, BOSCAR shows Coffs-Grafton statistical district was considered "stable' over the last five years. With the change in motor vehicle theft being +113 thefts between 2019 and 2023 totals. While break and enter dwelling fell by -145 incidents and break and enter non-dwelling fell by -9 incidents between 2019 and 2023 totals.
From
a personal perspective - yes let's all insist on higher numbers of police
in all regional areas to improve crime clear up rates and because police are often spread thin on the ground
during emergencies and, in the Northern Rivers region in particular
we now have such events far too often.
However,
does the desire to have more police in our towns mean that we need to
endorse a more punitive response to young offenders by a state
government and its police force?
ABC News, 18 March 2024:
Some
of the country's top legal and criminal justice experts have written
to NSW Premier Chris Minns about proposed bail changes. Sixty
organisations signed the letter, including the Aboriginal Legal
Service and the Sydney Institute of Criminology....
Amnesty
International, Save the Children and the Human Rights Law Centre are
also signatories to the letter, which states the premier's bail
changes will "make crime worse in regional communities, not
better".
"Your
new policy to increase youth incarceration is a betrayal of your
Closing the Gap commitments," they tell the premier....
