INJECTING ROOMS AN EASY MARK

IT'S EASY enough to understand why the police would want to arrest people
using a safe-injecting room. You only need to stand at the door and you
catch criminals. This in turn does wonders for your crime statistics while
using few resources.

On the other hand, solving the crime wave being experienced in my suburb
(Griffith) is much harder. Within the last two months I have had a brick
thrown through the back window of my car, a letter box hurled into the
front, my neighbour has been burgled three times in four weeks, the
portaloo on the construction site around the corner burnt to the ground
twice and neighbours' garbage bins have been splintered and burned on too
many occasions to mention.

The son of a friend was showered with glass when a pot plant was hurled
through the lounge room window and I know an older man who was advised by
police to investigate a burglar on a neighbour's property because the
police were too busy to attend.

On top of this the statistics are being fudged. On numerous occasions
police do not open a file on incidents reported and therefore the crimes do
not happen for statistical purposes. When the police get their own house in
order I may take their pronouncements on the safe- injecting room more
seriously.

Peter O'Dea
Griffith, ACT