[much of this article is about changes in crime rates in Victoria and other police matters, but the headline is about the 'tap and go' no pin cash cards (won't call that function a 'credit' card, because it isn't, which is the problem here)]
'Tap-and-go' credit card fraud 'chewing up police resources' Timna Jacks and Richard Willingham Published: May 28, 2014 - 1:20PM Victoria's top cop has blamed "tap-and-go" credit-card technology for another increase in deception crime, as the overall crime rate rises by 5 per cent. Credit-card fraud using stolen cards that do not need a pin number for small purchases had contributed to an 11,600 increase in deceptions over the past 12 months, a rise of 48 per cent, police say. These crimes were "chewing up police resources", Chief Commissioner Ken Lay told ABC Radio on Wednesday. In the latest release of annual crime statistics, covering crimes between March 2013 and March this year, drug offences also rose 15.5 per cent, while crimes against property were up 2 per cent and theft from a motor vehicle was up 3.4 per cent over the last year. Crime against a person has increased by 0.7 per cent, and assaults are up 0.3 per cent. Robberies, however, are down by 12.7 per cent, while theft of motor vehicles, property damage and residential burglaries are also down. Police Minister Kim Wells said the crime rate rise was due to more reports and charges of family violence, drug offences, breaches of justice orders and deception. Mr Wells took aim at the banks, saying the rise in deception offences due to theft and misuse of "tap-and-go" cards was frustrating. "The banks bring out new technology that you can tap and go but the reality is someone can find these cards and use it to go on a spending spree," Mr Wells said. "The banks simply need to do more to crack down on this." He said it was wasting police time to deal with these offences when the banks could offer better protection. Mr Lay said modernising the police force by moving police away from stations and recruiting new specialist task forces was the best way to deal with deception crimes, internet fraud and domestic abuse. The reforms would move away from the traditional model of investing in more front-line police officers which has been "favoured by both sides of politics" but were crucial if the police is to achieve an international gold standard, Mr Lay said. "We are now in a position where we are behind the pack in technology space. When you look at the best jurisdictions in the world at the moment people and police stations are spending 50 per cent of their time in the station doing paperwork. If we get the technology right we could get crime down by 10 to 15 per cent. We need to get smarter, more flexible with our people, get people in that are financial planners, lawyers." Mr Lay's comments come after The Age reported that the number of front-line uniformed officers in regional areas could be halved over the next decade, as police move away from stations and crime is tackled by more analysts, chemists, forensic scientists and detectives working in taskforces. The Chief Commissioner emphasised that the details of the blue paper will be debated by government, opposition, the Police Association and the community. Mr Wells also appeared to back away from the Coalition's pledge to have two Protective Service Officers on every train station, saying the allocation of PSOs was at the discretion of Chief Commissioner Lay. "He rolls them out on the highest need," Mr Wells said. Asked if that meant the government would not be able to meet its pledge, Mr Wells said there would be 940 new PSOs, as promised, by November. The government has repeatedly said it is proud of its tough-on-crime approach, and Mr Wells dismissed claims that a rise in the crime rate was a blow to the Coalition's re-election credentials. He said police were working harder and that the rise was due to more police work. The Coalition promised 1700 new police. As of last Friday there were an extra 1525 police working in the state. This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tapandgo-credit-card-fraud-chewing-up-police-resources-20140528-393ny.html Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [email protected] Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space. ~Margaret Atwood, writer _ __________________ _ _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
