Increased security around homes and businesses is the main driver for the trend of fewer property crimes in Australia, according to offenders, who rank improvements in policing in second place.
A survey of 994 people in police custody asked offenders an open-ended question: “Can you think of any reasons why property crime has decreased over the last 10 years?”
Property crime rates have dropped across Australia since 2001, with little attention paid to the issue, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC).
More than half the respondents to the survey could not offer an answer, but those who did responded improvements in security were the reason for dropping rates of property crime.
Rick Brown, deputy director of research at the AIC, said relatively few mentioned CCTV specifically, but offenders said security had increased generally.
Many offenders from the 470 who responded gave more than one answer.
Five most common responses
| Answer | Responses |
|---|---|
| Improvements in security | 145 |
| Changes to policing | 94 |
| Increased affluence | 51 |
| Increased imprisonment | 46 |
| Improved community responses | 36 |
Share
