WAR AND CRIME

Evening Star, Issue 16627, 9 January 1918, Page 6

WAR AND CRIME

REDUCED OPPORTUNITIES FOR THIEVES. The crime figures for Now South Wa.les t as compared with those of the year preceding the outbreak of hostilities, show an •appreciable decrease. In 1913, for instance, over 90,000 offences ' wore committed in New South Wales. Last year that total kid been. ■ reduced by nearly 10,000, but although that was a highly satisfactory falling off, it was only 1,500 below 1915. J ' Nevertheless, there has been >"nd still is a tendency for the figures to go down, and although complete statistics for the present year will not bo available for several months thoa-, obtainable .at present indicate that there will be a still further reduction tins year. This condition is due largely to the efficiency of the police, and also, accordiing to the leading crime experts o| the city, to the effect the war has had on the public life of the State. Nearly every family has its representatives at the front, and those that are not. mourning for the loss of a relative are depressed at the absence ot some loved one. Consequently there is not the gaiety of pre-war times. There is not the same desire to be out and about at amusements, and there has been and still is a protection of property that did not exist prior to 1914. Opportunity makes the thief, and as thore have been fewer opportunities during the last three end 1 a-half years the number of offences, particularly those .against property, have decreased in a v. annex highly satisfactory to the pu 1 lie and the. police. The complete statistics at present available are for 1913, 1914, 1915, and 1916, and they show that the offences against the person for the year before the war and tor the thtree veal's following were 4,301, 5,132, 4,685, and 4,290; those against property with violence, 1,350, 1,452,1,480, and 1,572; those against property without violence, 6,153, 6,206, 6,731, and 6,605; those against the currency, 83, 123. 110, and 94 ; those against good cider, 52,720, 53,689. 42,210, and 39,956; and other 25,057, 25,865, 27,238, and 28,400. The year's totals were:—-1913, 90,264 ; 1914, 92,467; 1915, 82,454; and 1916, 80,915. In 1916 there were increase:; over the previous yew of 92 in the offences against property with violence, and of 1,162 in those not included under a special heading. The other offences decreased in large numbers, those against the person falling off by 395, against property by 128, against the currency by 16, and against good order by 2,254, leaving a total decrease of 1,539. EFFECT OF EARLY CLOSING. That decrease in 1916 was largely lnx>ught about by the 6 o'clock closing of hotels, which caused.a falling off in ths cases of drunkenness and kindred offences. The 12 months, however, w r as marked by a phenomenal amount of serious crime. The operations of the I.W.W. called for special efforts on the part of the police, who secured the conviction of the incendiaries and cleared up iires by which £500,000 worth of damage was done in the city. Apart from that, other serious crimes, such as murder, manslaughter, infanticide, criminal assaults, assault and robbery, wounding, uttering spurious coin, arid burglaries, showed •appreciable decreases. The bulk" of the crime was naturally in and around Sydney, and the figures dealing with the metropolitan area reflected the general falling off." In 1915, of 6,453 offences committed 3,352, or 52 per cent., were cleared up. In those cases the property stolen was valued at £35,471 17s 4£d, while that accounted for by the police was £22,565 Bs, or 64 per cent." Last year thel-esults were even better. Of 6.178 offences committed 3,588, or 58 per cent., were cleared up. The property involved was worth £49.350 15s Bd, and of that £35,170 4s lid, or 71 per cent., was accounted for. The quarterly figures of those two years show that while, the average number of offences every three months in 1915 was about 850, it jumped to 1,144 in the opening quarter of 1916, and down to 694 in the concluding three months. BIG FRAUDS. With regard to the .present year, the only figures available are for the nine months ended September 30, and they refer only to the metropolitan area. But as the city always provides the bulk of'the crime they can" safely he taken as a guide to the whole of the State. And once again a decrease is shown. In the first quarter there were 1,240 offences of a serious nature, representing the theft of £85.128 14s sd. The police cleared up 797, or 64 per cent., of these cases, and accounted for £78,682 4s Id of the property. The June saw 1,272 offences committed, and of those 801, or 63 per cent., were cleared up. The property stolen again reached a high mark, amounting in value to £24,663 10s 2d. Of that £21,140 lis 4d worth was accounted for. Those two quarters, however, were ■'fleeted by the serious frauds on the military authorities and the Government Savings Bank,< the amounts involved in the two cases being £78,000. In the September quarter 1,355 offences,' in which £18.400 5s 2d worth of property was stolen, were dealt with, and 914, or 68 per cent., cleared up. The property accounted for was worth £16,358 19s 2d. The totals for the nine months show that of 3,865 serious offences committed 2,512, or 65 per cent., were dealt with effectively. The property involved was worth £126.192 9s 9d. and of that £116,181 ISs 7d was accounted for. BLOCKING CRIMINALS.' ■ Mr Mitchell, the head of the police, declared that the sobering effects of the war, which had brought sadness in so many families, had in a large measure brought about the decrease.' A large number of offences in the metropolitan area were housebreakings, which were carried out while families were away from their homes; but since the war'there had not been the same amount of visiting and pleasure-seeking, and consequently premises were rarely left without some member of the family being at home. Consequently the opportunities for thieving were reduced, and that meant a falling off in crime. In reply to a question, Mr Mitchell said he did pot think the absence of criminals at the front had anything to do with the decrease. He explained that there had been systematic efforts on the part of the military and the police to prevent criminals getting into the ranks, and very few had got away. Whenever a case of a, man with a criminal record cropped up the answering of the question as to whether one would like that individual to associate with one's eons or brothers led to a quick solution of the problem. He was not admitted. Xo doubt men with criminal records had joined up with the best of intentions and gone, to the front, but the policy of the police and the military had been and still was to keep them out. ' Anyway, the absence of criminals at the front had not been responsible for the decreasr in crime.