Wagga’s image as an ‘ice capital’ is at odds with data compiled by the NSW Crime Bureau of Statistics and Research and personal insight from Riverina Police District officers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
According to figures released by BOSCAR, registered drug offences in the Wagga area fell by 26.8 per cent in 2017.
A total of 682 indictable offences were registered between January 2016 and December 2016.
This number dropped significantly between January 2017 and December 2017, during which time 499 cases were registered.
However, this reduction has been overlooked by major national media sources, who have in recent weeks reported Wagga as being in “an ice epidemic”.
Riverina Police District chief inspector Andrew Spliet on Monday was forced to defend Wagga in the wake of another national story condemning the city’s ‘drug problem’, prompting an impassioned response.
“The ice problem is, from my experience, something that is not unique to Wagga,” he said.
“It’s a drug that gets into all levels of community and people of all different backgrounds.”
Chief Inspector Spliet was upfront about the impact of ice on regional areas and stressed the importance of familial education.
“It’s a drug that people really need to speak about as a family and start right at the ground roots in relation to the dangers that come from that drug,” he said.
“It’s a matter that we need to be discussing in schools [and] parents [should be] discussing with kids.”
“I can say that here in Wagga we do a good job [and] our police are out there we’re investigating these matters … whenever we get information in relation to ice and other drugs.”
Further investigation reveals the unwanted moniker of ‘ice capital’ or ‘drug capital’ could be bestowed to more than 40 other NSW Local Government Areas in the state.
Graphs developed by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research have detailed 42 NSW LGAs with a higher rate of registered drug offences than Wagga (778.7 per 100,000 residents) between January 2017 and December 2017.
Narranderra (2058.2 per 100,000 residents) is listed among these LGAs, recording almost triple the number of Wagga’s registered drug offences.
Leeton (1086 per 100,000) and Griffith (806.1) are also listed above Wagga.
Additional wastewater monitoring studies conducted by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission in December 2017 suggest ice usage has increased overall in NSW, ACT and South Australia.
