City sees drop in rape, sexual offences

 RAPE and other sexual offences reported in the National Capital District dropped last year, police say, and commended Governor Powes Parkop for his community programmes.

National Capital District had 187 cases of rape and sexual offences in 2015 compared to 214 in 2014.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner (operation) Jim Andrews said the decrease in sex-related offences dropped because Parkop had started awareness programmes to advocate against gender-based violence. 

“Programmes like the Clean and Safe City For All help reduce criminal activities in the National Capital District,” he said. 

“The Crime Stoppers programme by the police media unit is contributing to the general awareness in the community.

“I am urging other politicians and urban authorities in the country to follow what Parkop is doing in the National Capital Ddistrict to help reduce crime and sexual offences.”

Statistic released by the police headquarters show that rape and sex offences also decreased in East New Britain, Milne Bay, Western, Gulf, Hela, New Ireland and Northern in 2014 and  2015.

East New Britain reported 29 cases in 2015 compared to 65 in 2014. 

Manus reported 12 cases in 2015 compared to 26 in 2014. 

Milne Bay reported three cases in 2015 and 22 cases in 2014. 

Northern reported eight in 2015 and 11 in 2014. 

Hela, Gulf and New Ireland reported none in 2015 while a few in 2014.

Andrews said it was the responsibility of every people in the community to contribute towards minimising crime.

He said, like what Parkop was doing, to fight crime needs more political backing than just basic policing by police officers.