Chapter 21 - Police
21) Police
1.This category comprises expenditure on administration, supervision, support and operation of police services.
22.The ACT’s position relative to the States, based on the 1999 Review methodology and using the latest available data is illustrated in the following chart, with the ACT being assessed by the Commission as having positive needs in this category.
STANDARDISED, ACTUAL & Australian AVerage EXPENDITURE: Police, 2000-01
Standardised expenditure is the amount that the Commission deems the ACT is required to spend if it is to provide an average level of service.
Actual expenditure is the actual funding spent by the ACT on this category in 2000-01.
23.A category structure is provided on the following page and illustrates the major components of the current assessment, together with comments on how the ACT is affected by the application of the different factors.
Police:
SUMMARY OF THE CGC 1999 REVIEW METHODOLOGY
Component factors assessedACT position
Scale Affected Expenditure(wgt 2.83%) / The ACT is assessed as having positive needs due mainly to diseconomies of small scale.
Administrative scale
Input costs
Police Services (wgt 96.88%) / The ACT is assessed as having above average needs due to the impact of the surrounding regions of NSW on the demand for and the cost of providing police services in the ACT. These needs were partially offset by low dispersion costs and the sociodemographic composition factor where Aboriginals are considered by the Commission to impose additional demand for and costs of police services.
Dispersion
Input costs
Socio-demographic composition
Service delivery scale
Cross border
Isolation (wgt 0.29%)
SUMMARY: The majority of the above average needs for the ACT in this category derive from the Territory’s diseconomies of small scale combined with the additional demand for and cost of providing police services for non-ACT residents.
24.This chapter focuses on those components of the 1999 Review methodology that the ACT wishes to raise with the Commission. The ACT generally supports the assessment used in the 1999 Review. However, the ACT is seeking that the Commission:
- continue to assess the administrative scale and input costs disabilities;
- investigate and increase the cost weight for young males; and
- increase the cross border factor.
Socio-demographic composition
Young male offenders cost weight
25.The ACT notes that in the 1999 Review the additional costs young males impose on police resources was recognised by applying a cost weight of 2.5 for young males.
26.The ACT supports the continued inclusion of young males as a socio-demographic variable. However, to determine if the cost weight of 2.5 remains consistent with the additional costs young males impose on Police services nationally, the ACT considers that the cost weight should be re-examined.
27.Young males aged between 17 and 25 form approximately 8% of the ACT population, yet they comprise between 36% 40% of all offenders apprehended by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in the Territory.
28.Not only are young males over represented in apprehended offenders data, as a demographic group, in 2000-01 young males committed the majority of property offences such as motor vehicle theft, burglary and other theft. Young males were also involved in a greater number of assault offences. This is illustrated in Table21.1 below.
TABLE 21.1 – Males as A PROPORTION of total offenders by major offence category, 2000-01
Offence Type / Males as a proportion of total offenders / Male 17-25 year old offenders as a proportion of total offenders(%) / (%)
Burglary / 89.8 / 44.7
Motor vehicle theft / 88.2 / 43.2
Assault / 83.0 / 31.2
Other theft offences / 83.0 / 30.8
Source: Australian Federal Police - ACT Policing
29.In addition to being apprehended for a greater proportion of crime, the types of crimes young males commit are more costly to respond to and investigate. Of the four main offence categories (offences against the person, offences against property, drug offences and other offences) property related offences generate over 80% of police response, recording and investigative activity, which the AFP estimates comprised around 34% of total expenditure in 2000-01.
30.Young males in the ACT impose a disproportionate burden, estimated to be approximately 4 to 5 times their population share, on Police services, and the ACT contends that the burden young males impose on other jurisdictions is of the same magnitude.
31.The ACT requests the existing cost weight of 2.5 for young males be investigated, with a view to increasing it to 4 or 5 based on the experience of the Australian Federal Police in the ACT.
Cross border
32.As an island within NSW the ACT provides an attractive target and uncomplicated access for non-resident offenders. The ACT contends that the Territory is considered an attractive target for non-resident offenders largely as a result of socio-economic factors, such as the general perception of the ACT being a wealthy community. A high proportion of ACT households have all adult members employed, which means that many houses are unoccupied during the day, and the Territory’s accessibility via major transport links to the region combine to reduce the prospects of offenders being apprehended.
33.Non-resident offenders impose additional demands on police services through the additional costs in the form of investigating offences. Those non-resident offenders who are apprehended impose costs that flow through the justice system from detention in remand facilities, and processing offenders through the courts, to the accommodation of prisoners in NSW prisons.
34.There are some major disadvantages with the records available to determine an accurate number of nonresident offenders, and therefore the cross border impact on the ACT. Records are only available for offenders who are apprehended, and many nonresident offenders do not provide an address or provide a false or incorrect address to police. In addition to these issues, the AFP has advised that some offenders who are known not to be ACT residents supply an ACT address to improve their prospects of obtaining bail or to access assistance from ACT legal aid.
35.AFP records show that over the last three calendar years, 1999 to 2001, 18% of all offenders apprehended in the ACT have not been ACT residents, as shown in Table 21.2. Data for each of the years individually are provided in Attachment A.
TABLE 21.2 – Cross Border Offenders by State, 1999 - 2001
State / Number of offenders / Proportion of total offenders(n) / (%)
NSW(a) / 4,576 / 9
Vic / 224 / 0
Qld / 162 / 0
WA / 18 / 0
SA / 38 / 0
Tas / 6 / 0
ACT / 41,915 / 82
NT / 21 / 0
Not Stated / 4,337 / 9
Total / 51,297 / 100
Source: Australian Federal Police - ACT Policing
(a) Includes Jervis Bay Territory. Total does not include overseas offenders.
36.In determining the proportion of nonresident offenders the ACT has assumed that the apprehended offenders who did not provide an address were not ACT residents. While initially this may appear to overstate the proportion of nonresident offenders the ACT believes 18% is valid and probably remains an understatement of the actual proportion.
37.The ACT contends that the proportion of non-resident offenders remains an understatement because those offenders known to police as nonresidents yet who give an ACT address have not been included, and a high proportion of non-resident offenders are not likely to be apprehended because they have left the Territory.
38.In addition to increasing the demand for police services through criminal offences, the ACT faces additional costs through the non-payment of traffic and parking infringements by non-residents. While the imposition of parking fines is a municipal matter, the recovery of unpaid fines, in NSW at least, is transferred to the Police service. The ACT is seeking compensation for the additional costs it faces in recovering unpaid traffic and parking fines from NSW residents.
39.As at February 2002, there were around 160,000 outstanding traffic and parking infringement notice fines in the ACT, of which about half are fines issued to interstate motorists. As can be seen in Figure 21.1, NSW residents account for about a third (34%) of all unpaid fines in the ACT.
Figure 21.1 – Unpaid Traffic and Parking fines,
as at February 2002
Source: Australian Federal Police - ACT Policing.
40.Road User Services, the unit responsible for pursuing all unpaid fines arising from traffic and parking infringement notices, has estimated that the cost of activity for NSW residents is in the order of $50,000 per annum. This estimate includes costs associated with a full time officer and incidental expenses. The officer liaises with relevant traffic authorities to establish the owner of a vehicle and obtaining addresses of offenders, updating ACT records, receiving, assessing and responding to disputed infringement notices.
41.The ACT considers that the costs associated with recovering unpaid traffic and parking fines from NSW residents are not currently assessed and contends that these costs should be assessed in the cross border factor.
42.The ACT considers the current cross border factor of 16% to be inconsistent with the cross border impacts faced by the ACT, and considers the data supports an increase in the cross border factor to 18%.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.The ACT continues to face higher per capita costs associated with the administration of Police relative to the majority of States. These costs can be summarised as relating to two scale effects:
- diseconomies of small scale – the need to provide the full range of head office/administrative services related to the provision of Police services, with the cost being borne by a small population relative to most other States; and
- input costs – the above standard wages and salary costs faced by the ACT in providing the relevant head office/administrative services.
43.The ACT has provided more detail on the necessity for scale affected costs to be assessed which can be found in Chapter 7 - Administrative Scale and Chapter 8 - Input Costs.
Attachment A
Cross Border Offenders by State, 1999 - 2001
Number of offendersState / 1999 / 2000 / 2001
(n) / (n) / (n)
NSW(a) / 1736 / 1338 / 1502
Vic / 77 / 103 / 44
Qld / 45 / 56 / 61
WA / 3 / 5 / 10
SA / 16 / 13 / 9
Tas / 1 / 2 / 3
ACT / 13462 / 13758 / 14695
NT / 6 / 11 / 4
Not Stated / 1276 / 1335 / 1726
Total / 16622 / 16621 / 18054
Source: Australian Federal Police - ACT Policing.
(a) Includes Jervis Bay Territory.
ACT Main Submission to the 2004 Review / 1