New statistics show proactive cops curbing Wagga crime

The win for the men and women in blue came as the latest quarterly report from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) showed a rise in break and enters of non dwellings, but stability in most crime categories across the Wagga local government area (LGA) during the two years to March.

In the biggest victory for police, the number of steal from motor vehicle incidents dropped 21 per cent – from 678 incidents in the year to March, 2017 to 534 in the same period this year.

Riverina Police District acting crime manager Detective Inspector Peter Hayes said that decline – which mirrored a statewide trend in the same category – could be put down to officers on the beat across the city and common sense among motorists.

“It is proactive policing and, look, probably more so people are actually locking their cars, which we were seeing wasn’t happening,” he said.

“Get the cars [parked] off the street … [and] if people are hanging around the cars at night give us a call.”

Another crime to decline was stealing from dwellings, or residential premises, which fell from 384 recorded incidents to 309.

However, the same trend wasn’t evident for break and enters of non dwellings – such as industrial properties, educational premises and businesses – which rose 34 per cent.

“We have had an increase in the last year, as compared to the previous year,” Detective Inspector Hayes said of the non-dwelling statistics.

“However, that’s actually been attributed to a number of offenders and both those offenders are actually in custody now, so fingers crossed we should see a decrease in that type of offending.”

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Detective Inspector Hayes said a recently-established regional enforcement squad based in Wagga was on hand to help general duties officers and had already “made a number of really good arrests”, including one as recently as Wednesday.

Residents who “see something that just doesn’t feel right” should call police, he said. 

“Wagga is a community which is one of the largest cities in regional NSW,” he said.

“In the smaller communities we see people come into town, and the locals look at them and they go ‘these people don’t belong here’.

“Unfortunately, we’re not getting those calls in Wagga and if we were we’d be able to act and take action against these people.”

Meanwhile, the report showed the number of domestic violence-related assaults and sexual assault incidents in Wagga fell slightly.

Incidents of robberies with a weapon other than a firearm doubled from 7 to 14.

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