2nd LEAST safest city in Australia!

Has the blue line already been crossed? it’s the line between law and order and chaos in society. 

Geraldton has been named the second LEAST  safest city in Australia with a safety score of 2.9. Woo hoo, congratulations, way to go Gero! The title of least safest city went to Mt Isa in QLD with a safety score of 0.0.

Yet despite these figures, reports made to police and the increase in crime, there is still no regular police patrols in the CBD. I have seen the police doing patrols once (although I have been preoccupied with my daughters illness at PCH), my staff have seen police patrolling once. If my math is correct, 1+1=2… 

There has been no proactive policing just reactive. 

We were told that a police presence would occur in July. We weren’t told at what capacity or the timeframe just that it would be July and that it would be police patrols on push bikes -WA police purchased all these expensive mountain bikes and from what I recall used them for maybe less than a year in 2015 or 2016. Perhaps they are waiting on funding to purchase new bikes again before the patrols can commence?

In the last week alone 2 major incidents have occurred at one location alone.
• A bank pressed their duress alarm and went into lock down with customers inside.  

• A woman was threatened while sitting in her car with a gun… turned out to be a fake but the intentions of the perpetrators were the same- it was used in a threatening and violent manner. 

In the last 2 weeks there have been multiple thefts, multiple banning notices issued, numerous trespassing violations, numerous assaults - physical and verbal, and at least one assault with a weapon. 

The police are still singing the same tune… They are “busy attending Domestic Violence related incidents which take precedence”. And “there isn’t that much of an issue with antisocial behaviour/violence/thefts that the police need to be patrolling”..

Well for one, Geraldton has a DV unit, trained specifically for DV incidents. Why would the DV unit need the crime prevention officers getting in their way?. Stop riding on the coat tails of the DV movement. I’m a big supporter in ending domestic violence and I agree that DV does take precedence. But the retailers and community are asking for the crime prevention officers to be present. Also there is domestic violence occurring everyday in the shops and shopping centres, so a police presence would also be helping victims of DV. Ending domestic violence also starts with education and guidance before it occurs. Helping the youth that are engaging in this chaos in town is a proactive approach. 

It was published in news outlets about there being a new Sargent for crime prevention and that this person would be around meeting with retailers. This was over 2 months ago. We, the retailers have not had any contact from said person.

It is noticeable that the police are struggling with maintaining law and order. The police used to say they are the 99%.. maybe they need that 1% to bring back law and order to the town. 

Is our local member for government blinded by the camera flashes and can’t see what is happening? When will there be a voice representing our community and pushing for changes to the Sentencing Act? The courts can only sentence to the guidelines and standards set out in the Sentencing Act. Maybe with all the youth crime the Youth Justice Act could get revised too. Just a suggestion… I’m not a professional in that field. Clearly our salaries are very different. I don’t get paid for doing your job but ironically you get paid for not doing yours. 

The Government- the only workplace that pays you for not doing your job.