Commercial crime drops but home break-ins, DV rise during coronavirus lockdown

THE number of commercial break-ins in the Territory fell during the coronavirus lockdown period while home break-ins and domestic violence incidents rose, according to new police statistics.

The number of commercial break-ins in the Territory fell during the coronavirus lockdown period while home break-ins and domestic violence incidents rose, according to new police statistics.

COMMERCIAL break-ins in Darwin and Palmerston fell by more than 30 per cent at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, according to the latest monthly police statistics.

However, break-ins at homes in Darwin increased by 22 per cent.

Darwin Acting Commander Sachin Sharma said the drop in commercial break-ins was due to police working with business owners and taking a more proactive approach.

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Alice Springs saw a 11 per cent spike in domestic violence related incidents in the year ending April, while during the same time period domestic violence reporting in Darwin jumped by 6.5 per cent.

Darwin Acting Commander Sachin Sharma said alcohol remained a major factor in domestic violence situations.

“The reason is Alice Springs has proactively gone out that and collaborated with agencies where they have really encouraged and increased their interventions activities,” he said.

“When you positively approach these incidents you encourage reporting and the stats go up.”

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While he couldn’t confirm, A/Cdr Sharma said it was likely the coronavirus lockdown had contributed to the spike in domestic violence incidents in the Territory.