Illawarra petrol stations buck national crime trend

Petrol stations in the Illawarra are bucking the national trend which has seen armed robberies increase by 30 per cent, according to the latest report from the Australian Institute of Criminology.Rates of armed robberies at service stations in the Wollongong and Lake Illawarra areas were either steady or falling.However, the institute's latest research showed in 2006 there were 672 armed robberies at service stations across the country, up 31 per cent on the two years previously.Knives were used in 57 per cent of cases."Firearms were used in only 16 per cent of incidents and syringes in 2 per cent," the report said."This may indicate that service station armed robberies are committed by opportunistic offenders and knives are often used as a weapon of convenience."Wollongong Local Area Command reported only four armed robberies at service stations in the first half of this year.Those incidents all occurred in June and police said they appeared to have been committed by the same offender or group of offenders.At Lake Illawarra, Sergeant Ray Beacroft said he could not give an exact number of armed robberies on service stations, but said the rate was low."As a crime issue, it's not really an issue for us," he said."But we never underplay the seriousness of robberies. We don't like them because there is such a potential for serious violence, especially if there is a weapon produced."Sgt Beacroft said security measures implemented in service stations had helped reduce the rate of armed robberies.Security devices included closed circuit television cameras and transfer trays that allow night staff to serve customers without allowing them into the store."Call it target hardening, we would support that," Sgt Beacroft said."Don't make yourself a victim if you can help it."Sgt Beacroft said it was important that security cameras were installed at the right height to allow police to identify armed thieves and also to use the footage as evidence in court."The quality of CCTV footage is something any business premises can look at," he said. "Identification sometimes does rely heavily on how clear and precise the CCTV footage is."