Crime prevention series

Introduction

Published in:
Preventing car theft and crime in car parks
Susan Geason and Paul R Wilson
Canberra : Australian Institute of Criminology, 1990
ISBN 0 642 14939 9 ; ISSN 1031-5330
(Crime prevention series) ; pp. 1-3

The Australian Insurance Council (February 1989) estimates that, in the last ten financial years - 1978/79-1987/88 - 954,547 motor vehicles, valued at $4.7 billion, have been stolen Australia-wide (based on an average estimate of today's value at $5,000 per motor vehicle).

It is estimated that a car is stolen in Australia every six minutes. According to police statistics, about 12 per cent of cars stolen were left unlocked, and about 8 per cent had keys left in the ignition.

Table 1: Number and Value of Vehicles Stolen by State 1986-87 to 1987-88

State	No. of Motor Vehicles Stolen 1986/87	Amount $*	No. of Motor Vehicles Stolen 1987/88	Amount $*
Victoria	30,626	153,130,000	29,621	148,105,000
New South Wales	65,331	326,655,000	53,092	265,460,000
Queensland	10,196	50,980,000	10,008	50,040,000
Australian Capital Territory	1,137	5,685,000	1,411	7,055,000
Western Australia	13,012	65,060,000	13,247	66,235,000
South Australia	10,118	50,590,000	10,166	50,830,000
Tasmania	982	4,910,000	1,223	6,115,000
Northern Territory	1,273	6,365,000	1,198	5,990,000
TOTALS	132,675	663,375,000	119,966	599,830,000
*Based on average estimate at today's value of $5,000 per motor vehicle. Source: ICA Bulletin, February 1989, p. 7.

Table 2: Number of vehicles stolen and value 1978-79 to 1987-88

Year	No. of Motor Vehicles Stolen	Amount $*
1987/88	119,966	599,830,000
1986/87	132,675	663,375,000
1985/86	118,607	593,035,000
1984/85	102,868	514,340,000
1983/84	96,317	481,585,000
1982/83	94,776	473,880,000
1981/82	80,353	401,765,000
1980/81	70,696	353,480,000
1979/80	70,551	352,755,000
1978/79	67,738	338,690,000
TOTAL	954,547	4,772,735,000
*Based on average estimate at today's value of $5,000 per motor vehicle. Source: ICA Bulletin, February 1989, p. 7.

Just as the risk of car theft is high, the likelihood that the thief will be apprehended and the vehicle recovered is low. According to 1987-88 NSW Police Department statistics (1988), of the 64,700 car thefts recorded in New South Wales, only 1,776 - or 2.74 per cent - were cleared up. The clear-up rate in country areas was higher, at 9.26 per cent, but even lower - 1.86 per cent - in the Sydney metropolitan area.

Clearly, a concerted effort is needed to reduce car theft and theft from cars and to make stolen cars and car parts identifiable.

The approach

This study combines a situational approach to the prevention of car crime with longer-term educational strategies.

Situational crime prevention strategies are directed at changing the environment to prevent a crime from happening, rather than attempting to change the behaviour of the offender or to ameliorate the social conditions - unemployment, alienation, inadequate social conditioning etc. - which might have given rise to the crime in the first place.

Situational crime prevention is also referred to as opportunity reduction, that is, making it harder for the offender to commit a crime; in this case making it harder to take or steal from a car or to commit acts of violence in car parks. Situational strategies include controlling access to and improving surveillance of car parks, and target hardening through improving the design of cars to make them more difficult break into and start. (For more information on the theoretical aspects of situational crime prevention, see Crime prevention: theory and practice, by Susan Geason and Paul Wilson, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, 1988.)

We also look at a number of educational programs - to teach drivers to take more responsibility for the safety of their own vehicles and to raise their consciousness on the need for better safety equipment in cars and programs aimed at encouraging manufacturers to improve the security features of their vehicles.