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