WE’RE SICK OF IT
We tell you which suburbs crims like this teen are targeting
FIGURES reveal upmarket suburbs in Cairns are the fresh target of criminals.
Bayview Heights, Caravonica, Stratford, Trinity Beach and Trinity Park are hotspots with noticeable rises in crime rates in the past year.
It comes as Acting Magistrate Richard Lehmann spoke out about the youth crime spree. “The community as a whole are sick and tired of young people breaking into their houses, taking their car keys, taking their cars and then joy riding around the streets ...,” he said while sentencing Shania Murray, 17, (right) for 12 offences, including two burglaries, three vehicle thefts and two enter premises.
A CRIME spike has enveloped individual suburbs from one side of Cairns to the other as criminals mobilise their activities and keep close tabs on policing practices.
Latest figures reveal Bayview Heights to be a crime hotspot with offence numbers skyrocketing by 90 per cent during the past year compared to the previous 12 months.
On the other side of town, Caravonica emerged as another problem area, with a 70 per cent rise, ahead of Stratford’s 37 per cent and Trinity Beach with 29 per cent.
Residents of less affluent “M” suburb Manoora may have endured a more modest 12 per cent crime increase but the statistic obscures the fact it remained among the worst suburbs for criminal activity.
During the 12-month period, Cairns City had the greatest crime prevalence with 4102 offences (down 13 per cent), followed by Manunda with 1663 (up 3 per cent), Manoora on 1480 and Cairns North with 1341 (down 9 per cent).
Earlville was next with 1165 crimes during the year (down 19 per cent), with Woree next on 1068 (up 9 per cent), Edmonton at 1038 (down 8 per cent) and Mooroobool with 742 offences (down 10 per cent).
The Far North’s top cop, Chief Superintendent Brett Schafferius, said police were working long shifts to bring offenders to justice, especially now as a wave of property crime hit the city.
“What we do see is offenders change their patterns of offending, including where they commit the offences,” he said. “We often see, when we deploy resources to one hotspot, that offenders move on to other areas and we need to adjust our policing focus.”
Chief Supt Schafferius urged residents to remain vigilant to avoid becoming easy marks. No suburb was immune from being targeted.
“It’s unfortunate that virtually every suburb at some point in time will see offences occurring,” he said.
“We have our dedicated intelligence team constantly monitoring trends so that we can deploy in the most operationally viable manner.”
It is an uphill battle but their around-the-clock work is resulting in arrests.
Officers have now charged two men accused of a crime spree covering areas as distant as Palm Cove, Clifton Beach, Woree, Gordonvale and Innisfail.
The 19-year-old White Rock man and Bentley Park man, 21, were arrested in Ingham on Wednesday night for alleged offences including burglary, stealing, car theft, unlicensed driving, receiving tainted property, failing to stop a vehicle, and drink-driving.
In a separate incident, a 16year-old girl was also arrested late on Wednesday night after she was allegedly found sitting in a stolen car parked in Olive St in Manoora, the same street where another stolen car was found trashed and abandoned that morning.