Armed robbery in Australia generally targets either an individual or an organisation. Some organisations are more likely to be targeted than others for reasons including differences in the amount of money held at the location, varying levels of security measures and the number of possible witnesses. In 2005, among selected organisational types approximately two in five (40%), armed robberies targeted a retail setting, although this type of location encompasses a wide range of commercial businesses. Conversely, banking and other financial locations accounted for only three percent of armed robberies among these organisational locations. Service stations (22%), corner stores (14%) and licensed premises (11%) were the other organisation types that were likely to be targeted. These latter organisations may be the victim of specific targeting due to their lack of security measures compared with locations such as banks and financial institutions, and the fact that they still offer a particularly high monetary gain. These trends were similar to those results observed in the previous year of data collection in the National Armed Robbery Monitoring Program (NARMP).
Figure 1: Organisational victims of armed robbery by specific organisational location type, 2005 (percentage) [see attached PDF for graph]
Source
AIC NARMP 2005 [computer file]; n=1,936