Queensland Police Service Commissioner Ian Stewart has opened the 2016 Crime Prevention and Communities Conference today, with the theme ‘innovative responses to traditional challenges’ focusing on topics including substance misuse, family and domestic violence, mental health, crime prevention in vulnerable communities, and developing more advanced methods of crime prediction, Queensland Police say.
Following addresses by Commissioner Ian Stewart APM and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, the conference featured international and domestic keynote speakers, complemented by contributors from a range of crime prevention projects and programs, highlighting contemporary topics in crime prevention and community safety.
Hosted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and supported by the Queensland Police Service, the conference examined the impact of gangs and organised crime in Aboriginal populations, the contact individuals have with child protection, youth justice and the adult criminal justice system, system responses to youth offending, and reducing the unacceptable levels of violence against women and children.
Reducing crime in public spaces was discussed, as will police drug diversion treatment options to reduce drug offending behaviours in the community.
AIC Deputy Director Dr Rick Brown said that although crime has declined in Australia in many categories such as homicide, robbery and car theft, crime and anti-social behaviour remain a constant problem for the public and the police, and is a drain on government resources.
"When evidence-based research shows that crime prevention works, it reduces the long-term costs associated with the criminal justice system and achieves a significant return on investment in terms of savings in justice, welfare, health care, and the protection of social and human capital," Dr Brown said.
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