Qld's crime rate drops - except for rape

(AAP) Queensland's crime rate has fallen by five per cent in the past year, despite a 21 per cent rise in rape and attempted rape complaints, new figures show.

The Queensland Police Service annual statistical review for 2007-08, released
Thursday, shows falls in the number of offences in almost all offence categories.
Offences against property fell by 11 per cent, while offences against the person -
which take in murder, assaults, abduction and robberies - fell by five per cent.
However, within those figures, the number of reported rapes and attempted rapes rose
by 21 per cent.
Females between the ages of 10 and 19 were the most likely to be victims of sexual
offences.
The increase in rape and attempted rape is thought to be linked to more people
feeling confident enough to report historical crimes perpetrated by people in
positions of trust.
The report also shows clearance rates - the number of crimes solved - have dropped
in several categories.
Seventy-two per cent of offences against the person were solved in the past year,
compared with 74 per cent the previous year.
This took in figures which showed just 18 per cent of home break-ins were solved
last year, compared with 20 per cent in 2006-07.
And 64 per cent of fraud cases were cleared, compared with 70 per cent the year before.
But the number of sexual offences solved rose from 68 per cent to 74 per cent.
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said the results were good but there was
still room for improvement, with police to concentrate more on combating sexual
assaults.
He said clearance rates were affected when the number of overall crimes dropped.
For example, break-in offences had reduced significantly over the past seven years,
he said.
"As you reduce the number of break and enters it can actually be harder to catch
people," he said.
"Probably the first ones you catch are the easiest ones to catch and as your numbers
of offences get smaller you're left with a more difficult cohort of criminal
offenders."
Police Minister Judy Spence credited police with turning around crime in the state,
with the report showing the seventh consecutive year in which crime rates had fallen
or remained static.
"(There) once was a view that just because population was going to increase, crime
was going to increase and we've knocked that view on the head," she said.