Playford Council to contact SA Police over citywide crime spike

A northern council has rejected a request to rally for police to help an embattled suburb, instead declaring that its entire city is in the grips of a crime wave.

The Playford Council has rejected a request to rally for more police assistance to help embattled suburb Blakeview, instead voting that its entire city is in the grips of a crime wave.

Councillor Stephen Coppins presented a motion to ask SA Police to increase its presence in the suburb but his motion was amended so the request encapsulated the whole of Playford.

From Virginia to Sampson Flat, and Bibaringa to Elizabeth South, several councillors claimed it was not just Blakeview in need of an increased police presence.

Mr Coppins told the council the motion was in response to “gang activity” at Blakeview where weapons had been brandished and residents were living in fear.

Twenty minutes of deliberation later saw several councillors talk to the motion before it was altered to amend “Blakeview” for “City of Playford”, a change supported by Councillor Misty Norris.

Playford councillor Misty Norris says crime is an issue across the whole of the City of Playford. Picture: Facebook

Playford councillor Stephen Coppins moved a motion to ask police to address crime at Blakeview. Picture: Facebook

“It is a citywide problem, there are issues with the number of police we have at the moment and the recruitment,” she said.

“How do we put one area ahead of other?

“We’ve got hooning everywhere, we’ve got one lady who was found on the road at Elizabeth Grove that (has now) unfortunately passed away.

“It’s happening everywhere and I don’t know if I have the answers or if we have the resources but I think it’s something all levels of government need to work together to find the answer for.”

Mr Coppins’s original motion was moved in response to several residents of Blakeview expressing their concerns about a crime wave, threatening vigilante justice, and a single mother fearing for her life after she was coward punched near the area’s shopping centre.

The latest crime data from SA Police has shown the councillors are largely correct.

Compared with last year, all of Blakeview, Craigmore, Davoren Park, Elizabeth, Elizabeth North, Elizabeth South, Evanston, Hillbank, Munno Para, Munno Para West, Smithfield, Smithfield Plains and Virginia reported more crimes.

Of those suburbs, crime at Elizabeth exploded.

Across the whole of Playford Elizabeth’s 35 per cent increase in crime was the highest of suburbs that reported more than 50 crimes.

Virginia, where reported crime jumped 34 per cent, and Craigmore where the increase was 32 per cent, recorded the next highest jumps.

But an Elizabeth woman who wanted to remain anonymous said she felt the increase might mean more than just more crime.

Instead, she said, it indicated police were successfully cracking down in the area.

“I’m not so sure there’s been a rise in crime, maybe more people are reporting incidents than previously,” she said.

“(People) maybe feel safe and confident (police) officers are listening.”

With even Playford Council conceding the city was a hive of criminal activity, the woman said she felt there may be a cultural shift in its acceptance.

“I don’t know if people (are) just fed up with it, or if they feel like they’re not helpless,” she said.

Council chief executive Sam Green said the council would continue to liaise with SA Police.