SAMANTHA HEALY / CHRISTIE ANDERSON, TOWNSVILLE BULLETIN, APRIL 11, 2015 12:00AM
PARENTS are being urged to take responsibility for the whereabouts of their children after a recent spike in property offences.
It comes after 20 teenagers were charged with a total of 35 offences following an Easter long weekend crime spree.
Three cars were stolen from one house at Rasmussen after thieves gained entry to the home via an unlocked door.
Northern Region Assistant Commissioner Paul Taylor said while there was a recent spike in property crime, overall the numbers were down on the previous year.
“It’s a constant battle but we’re trying to do things differently,” he said.
“Investigators are getting a lot better, the community is providing us with good information. But we’re still having trouble getting the message through that people need to secure their property.”
Mr Taylor said most crimes were committed by young, recidivist offenders who were well known to police.
Figures from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council show the number of car thefts across Townsville almost halved in 2014. There were 451 car thefts recorded across Townsville in 2014 compared to 821 the previous year. The vast majority of car thefts were considered short-term thefts, that is the vehicles were used for joy-riding or transport.
About 10 per cent of car thefts were believed to be motivated by profit, according to the figures. Kirwan remains the hot spot for car thefts in Townsville, remaining in the top spot in 2013 (113) and 2014 (63). Rounding out the top five, the suburbs most targeted in 2014 were Mount Louisa (28), Garbutt (23), Kelso (21) and Townsville City (20).
In 2013, Condon, Aitkenvale, Annandale and Cranbrook were in the top five suburbs for car thefts.
Of the suburban streets most targeted in 2014, Riverway Drive at Kelso, Bayswater Rd at Currajong, Blue Lake Court at Kirwan and Ross River Rd at Aitkenvale recorded four car thefts each.
Eight vehicles were stolen from Flinders St, according to the data.
Motorists in Pallarenda, Cungulla, Rollingstone, Castle Hill, Arcadia, Balgal Beach, Nome, Bluewater Park and Rowes Bay were spared a visit from car thieves in 2014, with not one vehicle reported stolen. This compared to 19 vehicles stolen across those suburbs in 2013.
National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council executive director Ray Carroll said the reduction in thefts was likely due to targeted policing.
“In 2012 and 2013 we saw a big spike in Townsville and then in 2014 we saw the numbers fall to more historic levels,” he said.
“When you see short-term turnaround like that you can almost guarantee it’s because of targeted policing. It takes only a couple of juvenile gangs to really ramp up the numbers and when they are in detention it is quiet, when they get released, you get these spikes. You get the spikes if nothing in their lives outside detention has changed.”
Mr Taylor said the actions of the youths could, and sometimes did, end in tragedy. He said when it did, the child’s parents spoke of how much they loved the child.
“I’m asking parents to show the love before they are in a tragic situation and find out why they aren’t home at 9pm,” he said. It is a sentiment echoed by victims, who are fed up with kids roaming their neighbourhoods at night.
Mr Taylor urged residents to secure their properties, warning houses were sometimes targeted multiple times.
“They will revisit houses they have stolen from before and often people leave their keys in the exact same spot,” Mr Taylor said.
“They always morph from one tactic to another and I know a while ago they were leaving empty cans of drink on people’s lawns and coming back later.” Police figures show there were 1501 break and enters in the 10 months to March 23 compared to 2008 in the same period in the 2013-2014 financial year. The number of unlawful use of motor vehicle offences are also down, as are thefts from vehicles.
