Assault rate drops in city as cops up the ante in Albury

Albury Superintendent Evan Quarmby said while the introduction of CCTV in city had been a positive step in the past year, police had been working hard over the past decade to reduce the number of assaults.

According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, in 2006, there 503 non-domestic assaults in Albury’s local government area, which covers from Splitters Creek to Table Top to Wirlinga.

Last year, that number dropped to 329 with the area’s lowest number of assaults coming 12 months earlier, with 296 in 2016.

Within the suburb of Albury, non-domestic assaults were at a 12-year low in 2017 with 109 reported incidents.

That is down almost 60 per cent on the 252 assaults recorded in 2006.

Superintendent Quarmby said there were a number of factors behind the reduction.

“The CCTV has been a more recent addition to the CBD and it’s certainly very effective,” he said.

“Prior to that, and certainly to this day, we’ve had a very aggressive policy here of targeting anti-social behaviour.

“We do that through regular interaction with licensees, through the liquor accord and also targeting businesses that have a high reported rate of violent crime in them.

“We also have our walk-throughs, high-visibility policing. Our simple theory is if we can get police out and seen early in the night, people will behave themselves better later in the night.

“The CCTV has come along and the benefits of that have been fantastic – everything from a simple deterrent to right through that we’ve been able to solve some serious crimes by reviewing CCTV footage.”

Of the 329 assaults in the Albury local government area in 2017, 139 were alcohol-related.

Superintendent Quarmby said police made no apologies for targeting anti-social behaviour and hoped the number of assaults would continue to drop.

“We will target anybody who wants to make someone else’s night out a bad night out,” he said.

Albury surgeon Dr John Hennessy has lauded the city’s lockout laws for halving the number of assault victims that end up on his operating table.

A 1.30am lockout was introduced in Albury in 2006 despite cries of outrage from licencees and some sections of the public, but Dr Hennessy said the move had been an undisputed success.

He said before the laws were introduced, at the worst of the violence, he would operate on more than 200 people a year from all causes. This number gradually fell to about 100 after the law came in.

“Nothing else such as sporting injuries, motor vehicle crashes and workplace injuries changed. The only explanation for the dramatic reduction in facial injuries is the lockout,” he said.

“Ten or 15 years ago, the biggest cause of facial injuries was young men and alcohol.

“Then I went from seeing 200 facial injuries a year to 100. That’s 200 operations a year down to 100 and that’s fantastic.

“It would be better if it was zero, but I don’t think we’ll ever get there.”

Speaking ahead of his retirement from private practice at the end of this month after a 40-year career on the Border, Dr Hennessy said the introduction of a CCTV network in central Albury had been a positive step for the city.

After seeing more than 80,000 patients and at least 40,000 surgeries, Dr Hennessy will hand over the reins at his Stanley St practice to Dr Peter Vickers on June 29.

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