Bank robbers on a spree

mareva said :

Jim Jones said :

mareva said :

There’s a lot of crystal meth and heroin in this town and as such there is heaps of crime. There is also the lowest conviction rate in the country so a lot of reoffending. There are heaps of built-up units of public housing which concentrate disadvantage/drug dependency/criminal activity. Not saying this particular bank hold-up situation was related to any of the above issues, I’m just replying to your comment which suggests there wouldn’t be much crime in the ACT.

Any evidence for that statement?

Heroin usage has dropped substantially in the ACT over the past 10-15 years (as it has nationally as well). No idea about crystal meth use though.

There are built up units of public housing (which, having residents of a lower socio-economic status is always going to be a centre for certain types of crime), but no more so than any other city in Australia.

There is crime, sure – but ‘heaps of crime’ seems to be overstating the matter. The crime levels in the ACT are pretty low by Australian (and global) standards.

I agree with a lot of what you say, and I would not suggest ACT is any different/worse from other parts of Australia. I guess I didn’t intend to make a relative statement, I was only responding to the suggestion that this sort of criminal activity was hardcore considering Canberra is so small.

I agree with you that there has been a downturn in heroin use although disagree that it started 10-15 years ago. If you ask me it started exactly 11 years ago when the heroin drought started. It apparently continues residually (although hard to comment on the supply right now without being a heroin dealer or user).

Notwithstanding the reduced availability of high quality heroin, the two stand-out drugs of choice amongst repeat possession/trafficking offenders appear to be methamphetamine and heroin.

I think there is heaps of crime in the ACT, but I think there is probably heaps of crime everywhere. I should also mention if you work in certain areas you can end up with a very skewed perception of society. This may be the case with me.

Yep – also depends what you mean by ‘heaps’. It’s entirely relative. Historically, crime is pretty low (which is generally in line with a strong economy).

My point was that crime rates in the ACT (and Australia more generally) are not getting worse and is certainly not ‘out of control’ (as a lot of scaremongering politicians and media would have it).

Jim Jones said :

mareva said :

There’s a lot of crystal meth and heroin in this town and as such there is heaps of crime. There is also the lowest conviction rate in the country so a lot of reoffending. There are heaps of built-up units of public housing which concentrate disadvantage/drug dependency/criminal activity. Not saying this particular bank hold-up situation was related to any of the above issues, I’m just replying to your comment which suggests there wouldn’t be much crime in the ACT.

Any evidence for that statement?

Heroin usage has dropped substantially in the ACT over the past 10-15 years (as it has nationally as well). No idea about crystal meth use though.

There are built up units of public housing (which, having residents of a lower socio-economic status is always going to be a centre for certain types of crime), but no more so than any other city in Australia.

There is crime, sure – but ‘heaps of crime’ seems to be overstating the matter. The crime levels in the ACT are pretty low by Australian (and global) standards.

I agree with a lot of what you say, and I would not suggest ACT is any different/worse from other parts of Australia. I guess I didn’t intend to make a relative statement, I was only responding to the suggestion that this sort of criminal activity was hardcore considering Canberra is so small.

I agree with you that there has been a downturn in heroin use although disagree that it started 10-15 years ago. If you ask me it started exactly 11 years ago when the heroin drought started. It apparently continues residually (although hard to comment on the supply right now without being a heroin dealer or user).

Notwithstanding the reduced availability of high quality heroin, the two stand-out drugs of choice amongst repeat possession/trafficking offenders appear to be methamphetamine and heroin.

I think there is heaps of crime in the ACT, but I think there is probably heaps of crime everywhere. I should also mention if you work in certain areas you can end up with a very skewed perception of society. This may be the case with me.

Don’t they use those counter shutter things. Somewhere there is a photo of a would be robber being pinned to the ceiling by one. He must have been leaning right over the counter when it was activated. Looked spectacular , but I have an idea it did him in, brown bread like.

mareva said :

There’s a lot of crystal meth and heroin in this town and as such there is heaps of crime. There is also the lowest conviction rate in the country so a lot of reoffending. There are heaps of built-up units of public housing which concentrate disadvantage/drug dependency/criminal activity. Not saying this particular bank hold-up situation was related to any of the above issues, I’m just replying to your comment which suggests there wouldn’t be much crime in the ACT.

Any evidence for that statement?

Heroin usage has dropped substantially in the ACT over the past 10-15 years (as it has nationally as well). No idea about crystal meth use though.

There are built up units of public housing (which, having residents of a lower socio-economic status is always going to be a centre for certain types of crime), but no more so than any other city in Australia.

There is crime, sure – but ‘heaps of crime’ seems to be overstating the matter. The crime levels in the ACT are pretty low by Australian (and global) standards.

mareva said :

There’s a lot of crystal meth and heroin in this town and as such there is heaps of crime. There is also the lowest conviction rate in the country so a lot of reoffending.

Time for ACT Policing Drug squad to pay attention to hard drugs.Or are they having their fair share from deals in a back pocket, only fighting pot growers, who don’t don’t pay them for “protection”?
It is also time to reform judicial system, but , that is in everyone’s dreams I guess. 🙂

mareva said :

There’s a lot of crystal meth and heroin in this town and as such there is heaps of crime. There is also the lowest conviction rate in the country so a lot of reoffending. There are heaps of built-up units of public housing which concentrate disadvantage/drug dependency/criminal activity. Not saying this particular bank hold-up situation was related to any of the above issues, I’m just replying to your comment which suggests there wouldn’t be much crime in the ACT.

Agreed with you on that one. CBA Fysh does seem to be popular though…I was told that most banks have a policy with their staff that if they are involved in a armed hold up, they had the option of taking a severance payment pretty much immediately (on the condition that they sign over any claims against the bank for stress or other injury). Interested to know if it was true or not. If it was, I guess they must have high turnover in the CBA Fyshwick then.

DUB said :

Spykler said :

WTF???Commonwealth Bank Fyshwick- again??? what’s that , the 138th time its been knocked off in 2 years?Every time the news reports an armed robbery, the odds are better than 50/50 its going to be this branch..New staff must sh*t themselves when told they will be starting work there.

This is a first time I have heard that Comm bank was hit, usually, it is Westpac branch that gets hit frequently.Last time, I think, they had a guy firing a gun.
But anyway, for Canberra’s size, there are some pretty hardcore crimes happening.

There’s a lot of crystal meth and heroin in this town and as such there is heaps of crime. There is also the lowest conviction rate in the country so a lot of reoffending. There are heaps of built-up units of public housing which concentrate disadvantage/drug dependency/criminal activity. Not saying this particular bank hold-up situation was related to any of the above issues, I’m just replying to your comment which suggests there wouldn’t be much crime in the ACT.

In terms of this particular hold-up, I don’t think it’s quite the dramatic raid most of us have in mind. Canberra Times are reporting one woman in one of the branches held up, who was standing directly behind the guy at the time, didn’t even realise what was going on. Pretty meek hold-up from the sounds of it (which is a good thing).

Spykler said :

WTF???Commonwealth Bank Fyshwick- again??? what’s that , the 138th time its been knocked off in 2 years?Every time the news reports an armed robbery, the odds are better than 50/50 its going to be this branch..New staff must sh*t themselves when told they will be starting work there.

This is a first time I have heard that Comm bank was hit, usually, it is Westpac branch that gets hit frequently.Last time, I think, they had a guy firing a gun.
But anyway, for Canberra’s size, there are some pretty hardcore crimes happening.

WTF???Commonwealth Bank Fyshwick- again??? what’s that , the 138th time its been knocked off in 2 years?Every time the news reports an armed robbery, the odds are better than 50/50 its going to be this branch..New staff must sh*t themselves when told they will be starting work there.

dungfungus said :

(why are bank robbers always assumed to be male?)

For much the same reason that coal miners are.