Thursday, January 21, 2010

The crime rate here in Perth appears to be pretty low, and the first murder we've heard about since we've been here just happened yesterday.  I guess that's why it seemed so unusual, you just don't hear about murders or rapes occurring.  The biggest problem Western Australia seems to have is with young people getting drunk and rowdy, which they tend to do on a pretty regular basis it seems.  And in fact, this murder involved a couple of 20-year olds that had been drinking and got into a fight, and one of them ended up breaking a bottle over the other one's head and then stabbing him with it.  There has been a lot of talk about the problem recently, so apparently it's gotten a lot worse.  Otherwise crime does not seem to be much of an issue.  When we first got here I was nervous taking money out of the ATM's because the machines are right on the sidewalk, and everyone is just walking right behind you.  But we have yet to hear about anyone getting robbed.  And I guess mail fraud is not an issue either because half the time, the mailman doesn't push the mail all the way into the mailbox, leaving it sticking right out for anyone to take if they want to.  Haven't heard about that being a problem either. 

Last weekend we stopped in a small town for lunch and the local paper had an article about two teenagers getting into a fight following some vandalism, and both of them ended up in the hospital.  After interviewing witnesses and determining which one was at fault, they actually held a "hospital bedside hearing" and charges were filed and a court date set right then and there.  A citizen's letter referred to the "swift arm of the law" against these "hooners" and it went on to say that if these teenagers want to "hoon around" they should be punished, so it sounds like a hooner is a hooligan.