News

Independent addresses crime and community safety

8 March 2006

Crime and community safety, normally the topic of reactive, "fight crime" measures in the public arena, needs to be thought about proactively as part of a strategy for moving Victoria Park forward, according to Independent candidate Andrew Owens.

"We always hear at elections that Governments and Oppositions want to "get tough on crime", and many people I speak to are tired of the rhetoric," said Mr Owens. "Crime is often used by major parties as a bait issue to make people fearful and vote for the toughest candidate.

"While crime has been with us since the dawn of time, providing people with more avenues of opportunity and allowing them to lead healthier, happier lives as part of a community, together with an adequate police presence, is the key to reducing crime and the fear of crime in our society. In the push for growth and development, often the sense of community we used to take for granted has been left behind. National supermarket chains have driven corner stores out of business in many parts of Perth, and right here in Victoria Park, the community centres, aquatic centres and libraries are under threat of closure.

"Abandoned, empty train stations that are usable by no-one and are cut off from the public transport system are going to attract criminal behaviour. Our highways - Shepperton Road, Leach Highway and Orrong Road - slice communities. Our woefully lighted streets - I challenge anyone to go look at Farnham Street in Bentley and Bank Street or Teague Street in East Victoria Park - strike fear into the heart of even the most dedicated 'Find Thirty' adherents out for their evening stroll.

"As part of the Moving Victoria Park Forward campaign, I have already committed to restoring all-stops after-hours services on the Armadale line, and have pledged to investigate bus connections into the train stations to connect them with the places where people live and work. I also want to investigate the lighting levels on streets in known problem areas.

"That being said, restoring our sense of community will not stop the very real crimes of rape, child abuse and abuse of the disabled and elderly. As has been reported extensively in the media recently, while police numbers are being boosted and curfews on young people have been imposed in Northbridge, our most vulnerable are being abused by those who are supposed to care for them, and often nothing is done about it. When it's raised in the public arena, it's either treated as an isolated case or brushed under the carpet.

"Less than one in thirty incidences of sexual abuse are reported to police, and many go to settlement or fail to prove their abuse in court in a system which puts the onus of proof on the vulnerable person who may even still be in the dependent care of the person alleged to have committed the abuse. We need new ideas, not old rhetoric, to solve these critical problems," said Mr Owens.