Figures released today show there has been a 10% decrease in offences recorded in the past 12 months.

Tasmania Police has today released its annual Crime Statistics Supplement for 2015-16.

The report provides a breakdown of offences reported to police in the 2015-16 financial year.

In line with the figures in the monthly and annual corporate performance reports released last month, the document shows a 10% decrease in offences recorded in 2015-16.

The overall decrease is largely due to a decrease in property offences such as burglary and stealing.

Contributing to this was a 23% fall in burglary and a 13% fall in stealing (excluding motor vehicles)

Other key points:

• There was a 7% decrease in robbery offences (both armed and unarmed robbery). Armed robbery offences are now at the lowest level since 1996-97.
• Building burglaries dropped by 26% in 2015-16, with the 2015-16 figure of 3222 lower than the previous three-year average of 3759.
• Stolen motor vehicles in 2015-16 dropped by 17%, following an 11% increase the previous year.
• There was an 18% drop in arson and related offences during 2015-16 from the previous year.
• The number of injure/destroy property offences also decreased by 4% in 2015-16.
• There was a 13% increase in fraud in 2015-16.

Assistant Commissioner Glenn Frame said that Tasmania Police’s focus on property crime with its statewide Crime Response Plan appears to be having a positive effect.

The Crime Response Plan brings together:

– crime prevention strategies: making the community aware of the problem and providing crime prevention advice on how to avoid be the target of opportunistic thieves.

-targeting of offenders – imposing curfew conditions for bail, and undertaking bail checks to reduce reoffending.

-using social media to identify and locate prolific offenders, through Wanted Wednesday.

– targeting crime hotspots through education and strategic deployment of police resources.

“These figures show our Crime Response Plan, which was reviewed and updated last year to respond to the crime trend, is working well,” Mr Frame said.

“There is always more work to be done, and Tasmania Police will continue to focus on reducing crime through our Crime Response Plan.”