Crime prevention design in a vehicle registration system: a case study from Australia
This paper examines the crime prevention measures embedded in the Australian vehicle registration system. It builds upon a body of existing literature that has shown how changes to systems can generate positive crime reduction impacts. The crime prevention measures that have been introduced in Australia since the late 1990s have included proof of identity checks, checks of available databases, identity inspections for inter-state vehicles and close scrutiny of repairable written-off vehicles resubmitted for registration. These changes would appear to have reduced the number of opportunities available to re-register a stolen vehicle, which may have had an impact on profit-motivated vehicle theft. However, there remain a number of ways in which a profit can be generated from vehicle theft. Within the registration system, there would still appear to be methods of circumventing existing controls. More importantly, there would appear to have been a shift in modus operandi towards dismantling a vehicle for its parts and selling the remainder for scrap. These channels of disposal have grown in recent years, thanks in part to weak regulation of these sectors. This may have concentrated disposal methods for stolen vehicles into the vehicle dismantling and wrecking sectors, which may ultimately aid crime control measures aimed at further reducing profit-motivated vehicle theft.
crime prevention vehicle registration vehicle theft vehicle crime third party policing