SEQ’s most dangerous housing estates mapped

How safe is your neighbourhood? New data has revealed the streets and houses where police have been called to for break-ins, assaults, drugs and even murder. See how your street rates. FULL LIST

Southeast Queensland’s leafy suburbs hide a multitude of sins according to new police data which names and shames streets where suburban crime is at its highest.

Police are called to millions of homes across the southeast each year to deal with a range of crimes from drug busts to break and enters – and in extreme cases murder.

In the past two years, suburban streets in Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Redland and Moreton Bay have been the location of death, murder, drug busts, and weapons offences.

Alleged homicides in the past six months occurred in Balkee Dr, Caboolture; Mark Lane, Waterford West and in Ipswich’s Cascade St, Raceview and Hannant St, Collingwood Park.

Police were also called to an alleged homicide in Barton St at Dunwich on Minjerriba, North Stradbroke Island in the past two years.

In Brisbane, deaths under police investigation occurred in and around homes in Coolidge Ct, Stretton; Lyon St, Moorooka; Pine Mountain Rd, Carindale; Aster St at Cannon Hill; and in Brunswick St, Alfred St, and Musgrave Rd in the inner city.

Many of the hot spots in Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Moreton, and Redlands were in relatively new estates with the majority rental properties.

In Ipswich, tight clustered housing estates at Brassall tended to record more crime than other local suburbs.

However, as the housing crisis has pushed more residents into west Ipswich, along with cashed-up developers, places such as Walloon and Rosewood also recorded high numbers of crime in newly developed estates.
The Brisbane suburb of Inala recorded a large volume of crime, in line with its large population.

In Redland, there were high rates of crime in estates near shopping centres while in Cleveland it occurred at the estate bounded by Queen, Fitzroy and Homer streets.

In 2019, Rosewood District Protection Organisation president Ursula Monsiegneur was concerned about the Waterlea Estate at Walloon.

In Redland Bay it mostly occurred in and around the Donald Rd estate.

In Alexandra Hills, the estate at Abelia St and Amaryllis St was well-known to police.

Property and car thefts were dominant in well-established but lower socio-economic Logan suburbs such as Woodridge and Kingston.

However, Logan also recorded white collar crime in its more affluent suburbs and around the university at Meadowbrook.

The crime rate on Redland city’s bay islands was unexpectedly low, crushing common misconceptions.

A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said the southeast was home to nearly 4 million people and crime hot spots could emerge in any suburb.

Police at a house in Capalaba in 2021: Supplied

She said it was difficult to determine factors leading to a street becoming a hot spot as they occurred in urban, rural, high-density and low-density locations and across diverse social and economic demographics.

However, she said shopping centres, train stations, and residents’ abilities to access health and education were often to blame for spikes in crime rates.
“Hot spots can, and do, develop across all demographics including housing density and housing types, which vary widely from suburb to suburb and, indeed, street to street within suburbs,” she said.

“They can also increase due to targeted policing operations.

“Underlying long-term community issues such as unemployment, family issues and substance abuse are common to all major cities and the southeast.

“Emerging trends are often property related, such as spikes in break-ins, or thefts from vehicles, as well as stolen cars.

“Anti-social behaviour and alcohol fuelled violence can see trends at different times of the year, such as during holiday periods.”

Police partner with community and government groups to crack down on suburban crime and identify and mitigate emerging trends.

Picture: Supplied

The spokeswoman said addressing crime levels was a societal issue however police were at the forefront.

There were many reasons for changes in the levels of sexual violence or domestic assault crimes in suburbia with better support networks changing outcomes.

Search the interactive graph below, to see how safe your estate or neighbourhood is.

* Please note: if your area was not in the interactive graph, please email your suburb and street name to [e-mail], and a personalised breakdown on what crimes recently occurred will be sent to your email.