Total Offences, Public Order Incidents and Public Place Assaults are among a number of categories where reports have fallen in the 2012-13 financial year.

The 2012-13 Department of Police and Emergency Management Annual Report has been tabled in Parliament today.

“It has been another challenging 12 months for the Department and, after losing many dedicated and experienced staff through a voluntary redundancy program, we’ve undertaken considerable review and restructure to ensure we continue to contribute to a safe, secure and resilient Tasmania,” said Police Commissioner Darren Hine.

“We have had to make changes to the way we operate in these challenging times, but through the hard work and dedication of all of our staff, the Department has moved forward to meet the budget challenges of recent years.

“The annual report highlights the quality policing and emergency services that we continue to provide to the Tasmanian community and we’ll strive to maintain this.”

Included in the 2012-13 Annual Report:

• Total Offences rate decreased by 4%, building on the 11% reduction in 2011-12.
  Contributing to this reduction were decreases of 13% in Offences Against the Person (with a clearance rate of 92%), 3% in Offences Against Property and 12% in Other (Miscellaneous) Offences.

• A 12% decrease in public order incidents, which is the lowest for the past five years, and is continuing a downward trend.
• Public place assaults fell by 13%;
• The Total Serious Crime rate increased by 9% (41) incidents, however the figure remains lower than the number of offences reported in 2009-10 and 2010-11, with a clearance rate of 71%.
• The number of high-risk driver behaviour detections decreased to 19,464 from 24,485.

“Combined with a number of strategies we have in place, we believe a high visibility presence across the State has contributed to a decrease in a number of categories, including public order incidents and public place assaults,” Mr Hine said.

“We’ll work to maintain and further improve our performance across all areas. We also acknowledge that some of our targets, notably in the Traffic Policing Output, have not been met and the Department will examine strategies and practices to improve in these areas,” Mr Hine said.

“Police continue to be concerned at the level of high-risk driver behaviour and maintain an increasing focus in this area,” Mr Hine said.

The success of the high-visibility approach is evidenced by Tasmania Police’s consistent performance in the national Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing.  In 2012-13, Tasmania’s rates were higher than the national average for the percentage of the Tasmanian population who were generally satisfied with policing services (78%) with 68% satisfied with police in dealing with public order problems.

In 2012-13, DPEM has also embraced new technology. Newly completed projects included a mobile data tablet trial, the development of a Traffic Crash Reporting System and a new Firearms and Weapons Data System.