Home Invasions

[asianguy77]

Just watching the news and another one about home invasions. Whats the deal, why do they seem to be on the rise? Is it drug related?

Also they seem to be more brazen. Used to be your home got broken into, when you were out. Now, they will just break your window/door even when they know you're still at home.

 

[Fudd]

I had a look at the police stats on burglary in WA and for the 2001 financial year, there were approx 3,300 burglaries per month with a clearance/solved rate of 14%. For the 2011 financial year ending, the number dropped to 2,200 per month but the clearance/solved rate also dropped to 11%. It would seem that, at first glance, the public has become more savvy about home security over time or are fed up and not reporting minor burglaries.

Looking at drug related statistics, they seem to have remained stable over the same periods, ie around 1350 offences per month with clearance/solved rate of approx 90%. However, what is not known is do these offences relate to the same types of drugs or have the types of drugs involved changed over time. It could be that offences relating to softer drugs may have dropped but that gap may have been taken up with harder drugs like crack etc and the side effect of these types of drugs may have a contributing effect on the brazeness of home invasions.....just a guess.

There are, no doubt, a number of factors that will have influenced the above. So one should be cautious with the above.

Fudd

 

[asianguy77]

I had a look at the police stats on burglary in WA and for the 2001 financial year, there were approx 3,300 burglaries per month with a clearance/solved rate of 14%. For the 2011 financial year ending, the number dropped to 2,200 per month but the clearance/solved rate also dropped to 11%. It would seem that, at first glance, the public has become more savvy about home security over time or are fed up and not reporting minor burglaries.

Looking at drug related statistics, they seem to have remained stable over the same periods, ie around 1350 offences per month with clearance/solved rate of approx 90%. However, what is not known is do these offences relate to the same types of drugs or have the types of drugs involved changed over time. It could be that offences relating to softer drugs may have dropped but that gap may have been taken up with harder drugs like crack etc and the side effect of these types of drugs may have a contributing effect on the brazeness of home invasions.....just a guess.

There are, no doubt, a number of factors that will have influenced the above. So one should be cautious with the above.

Fudd

Thanks for the stats. Although, the overall number of burglaries may seem to have decreased, the more violent ones seem to have increased. Gone are the days, where they are content to break in when people leave their windows/door open during summer or when they go out, but nowadays they are willing to break down your door/windows to get inside while your at home. That's the concerning part.

 

[Fudd]

...but nowadays they are willing to break down your door/windows to get inside while your at home. That's the concerning part.

...yep, and that was what I couldn't find, ie the corelation between the types of crazy/loony drugs of today and the brazeness of these burglaries. I suspect that there maybe a link.

 

[Happy2]

Home invasions against the elderly are the most sickening
I know it cant/wont be done but burglaries should be sorted into categories
Simple walk in steal a wallet left in plain sight through to smashing in and terrifying
Anybody! But even moreso the elderly or incapacitated etc

 

[ecchimiki]

25 years ago, we left the front door of our house in Morley unlocked.

10 years later, our house in Bayswater was burgled in our absence. Most awful feeling, they had ripped open personal envelopes, etc., looking for money. Security system, locked screen doors and window grates followed.

First house I lived in by myself I made sure had roller shutter windows, kept both the heat and eyes out.

 

[Miss Delights]

What ever happened to if it's not yours don't touch it...I do believe that majority of these cases are because of drugs. People will do anything to get a fix & it sickens me when they feel they need to take it out on the vulnerable or elderly with violence.

 

[tiffanydoll]

I agree my own daughter did it to me so I know the feeling

 

[Demon]

Crime in this city is exaggerated by the media. When in a city of 1.6 million a home invasion makes the news, that means our level of crime is quite low.

A home invasion is terrifying for the victims, but the media hype makes people believe that their lives are constantly in danger. They are not.

Some days the crime reported is a bag snatching. As I mention to aged relatives, that means no more serious crime was committed that day.

I don't watch the 'news' anymore as it is a crime report (no matter how trivial).

In the 1980s I knew someone who went to South Africa. One of the things he noticed most different from Australia was that their most popular TV program was a true crime program of current and recent crimes. He thought that was sick and was glad he lived in Australia.

Recently he commented that Australia now has those programs.

Research in the US has found that since the 1970 to now, the public perception is that crime has escalated. Based on murder statistics (used because even if not solved, most murders are reported - they do acknowledge that some murders are not discovered and are reported as normal deaths), they found that, on average, people in the US believe murders to be seven times more common now than in the 1970s. The fact is that the number of murders have fallen. However, the number of murders reported on TV news has increased by seven times over the same period.

No-one in authority tells people that they are safer. Why?

Police use the heightened fear to get a bigger budget to hire more staff. More staff = higher salary for senior officers. Just ask any remuneration consultant.

Crime sells on TV, so TV stations have no incentive to tell people that they are safer.

'Law and order' is an easy political campaign, so pollies push higher crime, and say 'vote for me because I am tough on criminals'.

These are all researched findings.

On a per capita basis, Perth's crime rate is well below what it was 100 years ago (1911). We have more total serious crime (Murder, rape, assaults) because the population has increased by more than 10 times, but serious crime has not increased that much.

Most crime is drug related. Most of the drugs involved were legal in 1911. 70% of people in WA gaols are they for drug related offenses (which includes robbery to finance drug habits).

The major benefit of decriminalising drug use (and treating it as a medical condition) is the massive reduction in crime.

The biggest opponents of de-criminalising drugs = The criminals pushing drugs. It would kill their business model.

Second biggest opponents = alcohol companies. Decriminalising current illegal drugs will move the focus to Australia's worst drug - alcohol. About 70,000 Australian abuse heavy drugs (cocaine, heroin, etc). There main negative effect is on themselves and close associates (family friends).

1. About 2,000,000 have an alcohol problem. This affects them, family, friends and anyone who comes near them - driving and violence. 30 times worse than illegal drugs.

2. Next comes cigarettes.

3. Then prescribed drugs which should never have been subscribed. So many patients want drugs when they visit a doctor and too many doctors and weak and prescribe drugs which are not necessary. Also our doctors are taught how to prescribe, not medicine. (e.g. WA has 7 times the world incidence of ADHD, based on drug prescriptions. This over prescribing also occurs with other drugs, base on world comparisons. The US has the reputation for over-prescribing, but we beat them easily).

4. Prescription medicine which is misused. Taking other people's prescription or keeping old prescriptions and using when you shouldn't, or getting prescription medicine improperly or illegally - but not counting what was listed as number 3.

5. Illegal drugs. They are well down the list in the the number of people taking them and the total harm done. Most are not addictive. (98% of people who use herion and cocaine get off it easily and without assistance. The other 2% are compulsive obsessive personalities who have got onto these drugs as their compulsion.)

Most drugs become habits. Habits are not addictions, but for too many people in society, confusing the difference is in their best interest. More funding etc.

Putting people in the criminal system when they have a medical problem condemns them to a life of crime. Gaols are the equivalent of TAFE for criminals. They learn the wrong things, and develop the wrong contacts, and once they get out, can't get a straight job.