Police involved in the Operation Mandrake anti-gang crime initiative have arrested six individuals involved in four separate crime sprees in August.
The alleged offenders, who are either known persons of interest to investigators or associates, are facing dozens of charges including serious criminal trespass involving 16 residential and business break-ins, the illegal use of five vehicles, using stolen credit cards and petrol theft.
Despite the crime series contributing 33 individual property related offences to the August rolling crime statistics, an overall decrease in offences against property of two per cent was recorded in the period.
Assistant Commissioner (Metropolitan Operations Service) Scott Duval said the criminal activities of those allegedly involved in the crime series presented a significant risk to community safety and well-being.
“They are breaking into houses, they are breaking into business premises, they are stealing cars,’’ he said.
“And they do drive at high speeds in stolen vehicles, often filming their exploits and posting to social media.
“This activity is clearly a risk to other road users, their behaviour is dangerous and extreme.’’
Mr Duval said police were often frustrated by the fact some of the young offenders continued to offend after being released on bail by the Youth Court.
“We have numerous examples of multiple offences being committed by individuals who have been released on bail on numerous occasions. They are serious recidivist offenders,’’ he said.
The August rolling year figures reveal the number of shop thefts continued to increase with 17,956 offences reported during the period, compared with 16,802 in the previous period. While the overall figure increased, the increase has slowed considerably over the past six reporting periods as police continue to successfully target recidivist offenders.
The latest statistics also reveal house break-ins recorded a three per cent decrease in the period with 5,691 offences reported, compared with 5,840 in the corresponding period.
Car theft and illegal use of a motor vehicle also decreased during the period with 325 fewer incidents – 3,582 compared with 3,907 in the corresponding period. Theft from a motor vehicle also fell considerably, from 10,604 offences to 8,834 offences.
Fraud and deception related offences also showed a significant decline with a 26 per cent decrease to 4,192 offences compared with 5,686 offences in the previous period.
The number of family and domestic abuse related offences reported to police has continued to be high with the rolling year figures revealing 13,028 offences were reported to police.
The number of sexual offences reported to police decreased by eight per cent from 2,566 offences to 2,357 offences in the latest period. An identical decrease was recorded in the July 2023 to July 2024 period.
