Burglary is a significant issue in most urban areas and many agencies are involved in efforts to combat the problem. The police are one such agency that relies on accurate and rigorous analysis of crime and offender data to focus their available resources. The Australian Institute of Criminology has been working with a number of police services to better understand patterns of offending and criminal behaviour across Australia.
This paper presents a spatial and temporal analysis of burglary patterns in the Australian Capital Territory and then discusses issues surrounding Operation Anchorage, a burglary reduction operation recently conducted by the Australian Federal Police. Some of the complexities in developing an effective crime reduction strategy are discussed in relation to both Operation Anchorage and other policing initiatives.