After an alleged shoplifting incident went seriously wrong at her local bottle shop, Gungahlin's Alison Wheatley says her view that Canberra was a safe place has changed.
Police confirmed the May 15 incident at Liquorland Amaroo ended with community members intervening when a 16-year-old girl allegedly hit a bystander on the head with a glass bottle after he confronted her.*
"I shouldn't have to ask, 'OK, it's 6 o'clock, Friday night ... is it safe for me, when my husband's away or coming home from work, to go down to the shops for a second?'" Ms Wheatley said.
She said she thinks twice before heading out alone, or at night, and recounted a slew of reports in north Canberra, including an assault at a tram station, a carjacking in a car park, and a drug-related arrest where police allegedly also found a gun.
"One of my friends said to me, 'When I take my daughter to football training up at Amaroo School on Tuesday afternoons, there's a group of youths that wear balaclavas on bikes,' and they're harassing them as they're playing," Ms Wheatley said.
"It just seems like there's no police presence unless there's an incident ... you used to hear of incidents in Civic and the city, but it's happening in the suburbs too ... I particularly don't want to end up like [Sydney]," she said.
Fed up with choosing between peace of mind and stepping out in public, Ms Wheatley says unsafe incidents are on the rise and police visibility is lacking.
A 2024-2025 survey of more than 2000 residents published in the latest Report on Government Services shows perceptions of safety and crime problems have deteriorated in the ACT.
A caveat in the survey said due to a national change in methodology, data from 2023-24 onwards cannot be comparable to previous years' results.
Even after accounting for a margin of error in public perception data, The Canberra Times' analysis shows a consistent downward trend across multiple areas since 2023-2024.
About 83 per cent of Canberrans said they felt totally safe inside their homes at night, down from about 87 per cent the previous year, while nearly 45 per cent did not feel safe walking around their neighbourhood at night and 64 per cent did not feel safe using public transport at night.
Additionally, more than 74 per cent of Canberrans felt speeding cars and dangerous driving were a "total, major, or somewhat of a problem" in their area, while about 38 per cent felt the same way about illicit drugs.
ACT Policing said the use of social media and increased media reporting on mainstream media highlighting individual incidents were "a key driver" of perceptions of crime and safety.
"While reported rates for those incidents might remain low, increased public awareness of published matters is acknowledged to increase the perceptions of crime in a community," a spokesman said.
Gungahlin resident, Lauren, who did not wish to provide her surname, said she and her children avoided heading out in Canberra at night be it by car or public transport.
She said she was "vigilant" about illicit drug use and related incidents in her area but had not encountered any.
Fellow resident and former customs officer, Simon Luck, said he was worried about drug use and drug-related crime after conversations with his children and past colleagues.
Nicole McKay, who travels to Greenway regularly for work, said she did not feel safe at night and there had been instances where female staff were followed to their cars.
But even during the day, she said mental health-related reports were on the rise and described an incident last week when a woman walked past her workplace, wearing a balaclava and carrying a baseball bat.
"This is not the first time ... very scary," Ms McKay said, adding that a guard was able to take away the woman's bat. "Maybe there's not enough [mental health] help out there."
"I never see police around here," she said, as she spotted two officers on foot.
She said delinquents often intimidated security guards and would continue doing the wrong thing unless confronted by guards with a bigger build.
Thuong from Downer, did not wish to provide their last name, but said there were "a lot of naughty boys" hanging out at night in Gungahlin, and close to the tram stop.
Citing an escalation in youth crime and violence, Tuggeranong retail worker, Christine Dean, said shopping centres were no longer safe spaces, and that the "older generation" was boycotting the mall.
"There were times when I was working and there was just a swarm of police outside patting down teenagers because they pulled a knife out at someone," Ms Dean said.
"That was a good day because the police came."
A Woden resident, who quit her pharmacy job and wished to remain anonymous, showed this masthead security videos where two women were seen assaulting staff - pulling one worker's hair and punching another in the face - when they were stopped for bag checks.
ACT Policing data obtained by this masthead showed officers arrested 744 young people aged 10 to 17 years old in 2024-2025, and nearly 10 per cent were aged between 12 and 13 years old.
Between July 1 and December 31, 2025, after the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the ACT was raised to 14 years old, police said there had been 98 incidents including a child under 14.
Business owner, Fatima Tabaja, said not all children should be put in the same box, and that it was group of young people who were "ruining it" for everyone else. She said police "do a good job" but would like to see more of them.
Good Games Gungahlin store manager, Vina Pinto, said "nerdy" police officers came into the store and said they do care about their community.
"It's nice to see them patrol the mall and the surrounding areas every weekend," Ms Pinto said.
The Report on Government Services showed density of sworn officers in the ACT had fallen from 173 per 100,000 people to 169 in the past decade while the number of unsworn staff per capita doubled from 22 to 42 per 100,000.
ACT Policing acknowledged the change but said overall staff numbers had increased by 15 per cent since 2015-2016 and that this growth broadly aligned with the ACT's population increase of 18 per cent.
A spokesman said ACT Policing had experienced a growing need for unsworn staff to support the work of sworn officers and better meet the community's needs.
These civilian roles included community engagement, research and evaluation, health and wellbeing services, legal and policy advice, financial services, and workforce management.
"The growth in unsworn staffing reduces the requirement for sworn police officers to undertake functions that do not require policing powers, enabling ACT Policing to redeploy sworn members to core operational and frontline duties. This is consistent with all other policing jurisdictions in Australia," the spokesman said.
ACT survey results since 2023-2024 have showed people's perceptions of police integrity remain under 80 per cent.
These include, about 77 per cent of Canberrans agreeing that police do their job professionally, about 66 per cent agreeing police are honest, and less than 60 per cent agreeing that police "treat people fairly and equally".
Belconnen couple Ann Czajor and Nigel Ridgway said they had a positive view of the police but there were not enough officers because they didn't see them in their suburb.
She said the police's general reputation had been tainted by online videos showing police brutality and "people being dragged around".
Senior lecturer Dr Helen Taylor from Canberra's Centre for Social Policy Research said public perception of police could also be influenced by high-profile incidents in NSW because many people did not clearly separate ACT Policing from other forces.
She said falling perceptions of police fairness was not surprising and appeared to be part of a wider national decline in trust in government bodies since the pandemic.
"Institutional trust in general is under strain ... multiple surveys have shown a decline in trust in public institutions, so I'm not overly surprised that there would also be a corresponding decline in perceptions of fairness and trust of the police," Dr Taylor said.
Responding to the survey findings, an ACT Policing spokesman said they retain "significant support" from the ACT community with high satisfaction levels when respondents have an interaction with police.
"This is an indication that police are meeting the needs of those who seek our help each year," he said.
He said the ACT was a small jurisdiction where complaints about police tended to fluctuate and could by affected by factors including the number of interactions with police each year, significant incidents, and the tyoe of incidents police attended.
"Globally - distrust in police [is] caused by a range of factors however is a recognised issue in recent years." the spokesman said.
*ACT Policing confirmed reports of theft and assault on May 15 at Liquorland Amaroo involving a group of teenagers. A spokeswoman said members of the public intervened, before police came and arrested the teenage girl, who was then released into her parents' care. Anyone with information related to the incident has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers quoting reference number 8386945.
Support is available for those who may be distressed: Call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732; Lifeline 13 11 14, Domestic Violence Crisis Service 02 6280 0900, Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 02 6280 0900; Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491; 13YARN on 13 92 76; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015
