Reported crime on wane

Reported crime in the Rockingham sub-district has continued to drop, but police say vigilance is still essential.

The sub-district has seen an overall decrease in several crime categories from this time last year, but Rockingham police officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Brett Reyne said police still relied on information from the public to help address crime.

Falling under the wider Mandurah district, suburbs including Rockingham, Cooloongup, Baldivis, Warnbro and Port Kennedy are part of the Rockingham sub-district, with statistics released this week showing a downward trend across several crime categories.

Sen. Sgt Reyne said when compared to this time last year, the sub-district had seen a decrease in the number of offences involving theft and the stealing of motor vehicles.

“Stealing offences, from both properties and businesses, is nearly 10 per cent down, while the stealing of motor vehicles is currently almost 20 per cent down from this time last year,” he said. He said there had been a slight rise in burglaries, particularly targeting businesses.

There has also been an increase of 50 home burglary offences on last year, but Sen. Sgt Reyne said police were working to address this by targeting particular areas and particular offenders.

Damage offences were slightly up by 5 per cent, but Sen. Sgt Reyne said this represented only 19 offences.

The number of robbery offences was exactly the same as this time last year. Sen. Sgt Reyne said the Rockingham police sub-district was travelling well in terms of the reduction of reported crimes, but stressed the importance of ongoing vigilance by residents and business owners.

“The sub-district has seen a general reduction in crime over the past few years and we are still on track and in the right direction, however this could be difficult to continue to maintain a downward trend in coming years,” he said.

Sen. Sgt Reyne stressed the importance of ongoing collaboration between police, the public, business and the City of Rockingham to help tackle crime in the area.

“All of these groups are currently working together really well and helping to provide police with assistance and good information, which does make our job a lot easier,” he said.

He also urged businesses to make their properties and goods harder to target for criminals by undertaking work such as installing CCTV and not having valuable goods on show outside stores.