Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson will introduce a motion into the ACT Legislative Assembly this week to support ACT Policing to implement an online reporting mechanism for property-related and minor crimes.
“This online reporting mechanism would complement existing support systems and reporting mechanisms by giving agency and choice to the community when they are reporting minor crimes,” Dr Paterson said.
“An online portal that is easily accessible to use would empower those who have been victims of property damage to report quickly and easily and enable to police to allocate resources appropriately.”
In late 2021, ACT Policing announced it would expand its online reporting system to include property-related crimes in lieu of police attending the scene of the crime. Police said the shift to online was part of a concerted effort to reallocate resources toward more serious matters where there is greater risk of harm or a threat to life.
But Canberra Liberals MLA Jeremy Hanson said the proposal was “extremely concerning”, fearing it would “send a greenlight to criminals who will know a certain level of crime may not even receive a visit from police”. He thought the proposal was a direct result of the shortage of police in the ACT.
- ACT Policing to expand online reporting for property crimes (1 December 2021)
Last week’s Report on Government Services showed that despite an overall increase in expenditure and staffing, the ACT has the fewest police officers and the lowest recurrent expenditure per 100,000 people in the country. The ACT has the consistently lowest rate for clearance of property offences, for the 10th year running. Crime rates for sexual assault and motor vehicle theft have increased. Magistrates court decisions resulting in the conviction of defendants are the lowest in the nation. And the ACT public’s satisfaction with services provided by police is at its lowest in 10 years.
Mr Hanson and the Australian Federal Police Association, concerned that the ACT does not have enough police officers to protect and serve its growing population, urged the government to properly resource and support the police. The AFPA wants another 300 ACT Policing employees: 250 sworn officers and 50 civilians.
- ROGS: ACT police funding and numbers lowest in Australia (1 February)
- Union, Liberals call for more funding for ACT police (1 February)
In 2020, Dr Paterson said, the ACT introduced an online reporting process for historic sexual assaults, to make it more accessible for victims to report incidents and take control of the reporting process in a non-threatening way.
In the ACT, online reporting processes are in place to report minor traffic incidents. Canberrans report to Access Canberra and Crime Stoppers via online forms.
“The process has been used for many years in other jurisdictions, and it is now time to expand and improve online reporting mechanisms for ACT residents,” Dr Paterson said.
This motion seeks to bring ACT in-line with other jurisdictions including New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia, which all have online reporting systems for property damage, among other crimes.
“This is an opportunity for ACT Policing to modernise existing processes and allocate resources in a more efficient manner,” Dr Paterson said.
The motion calls on the ACT Government to conduct substantial community awareness and education campaigns about the new reporting mechanism, and to make sure that all members of the community can easily access the reporting system.
“The more options the community has to report crime, the better,” Dr Paterson said. “The community should always feel first and foremost that they can call ACT Police if they need assistance. [When the online reporting is implemented], there will be more options for Canberrans to report and get information to ACT Police.”
Dr Paterson said she looked forward to the ACT Government reporting back to the Assembly on the progress of the implementation over the following year.
