Tasmania recorded the lowest or equal lowest victim rate in the country for the majority of offence categories in 2016, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics released today.

The ABS’s Recorded Crime- Victims Australia 2016 released today, contains statistics on victims for a range of selected offences by police in 2016.

Tasmania’s victimisation rate (per 100,000 population) in 2016 was the lowest or equal lowest in the country for eight of the 11 offence categories reported nationally:

• Attempted murder (results not published)
• Manslaughter (results not published)
• Sexual assault (lowest in the country with 213 offences reported in 2016)
• Kidnapping/abduction (no offences recorded)
• Armed and unarmed robbery (decreased by 10.3% (10 victims) in 2016 following an 18.3% increase in 2015. Armed robbery decreased by 7.7% (4 victims) while Unarmed robbery decreased by 12.8% (6 victims)
• Blackmail/extortion (results not published)
• Other theft such as theft from a person or shoplifting (decreased by 2.2% in 2016 following a 1.9% increase the previous year)

Assaults in Tasmania remain the lowest in the country despite a small increase of 0.4% in 2016.

Tasmania’s 2016 victimisation rate was also below the national average for Unlawful Entry with Intent (decreased by 22% in 2016 following a 4.5% increase in 2015) and Motor Vehicle Theft (decreased by 6% in 2016 after a 2.6% increase in 2015).

Tasmania’s victimisation rate was above the national average for Murder in 2016 (from 3 victims in 2015 to 8 in 2016), however, these rates fluctuate given the low offences reported and our smaller population. Tasmania Police solved 75% of these murders within 30 days of reporting and 100% within 60 days of reporting. Most of the offenders were charged within hours of the crime being committed.

Family violence data for Tasmania was included for the second year, which showed that 45% of Tasmanian assault victims and 44.1% of sexual assault victims were family violence related. Our new Safe Families Coordination Unit is continuing to review all reported serious family violence incidents state-wide. The Unit comprises representatives from across key government agencies, working together to support and enhance front-line services.  Their job is to protect vulnerable families through a coordinated response to support victims and their children and hold violent perpetrators to account.

Targeting offences continues to be a focus for Tasmania Police.

Our Crime Response Plan brings together:

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

-Targeting of prolific 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 strategic deployment of covert and overt police resources.