Michael Johnston
REPORTS of crime at Rocherlea have dropped 20 per cent in the past 12 months, Launceston police Inspector Michael Johnston said.
Reports of assault and other person offences have dropped by more than 55 per cent while public order offences have dropped by 35 per cent.
If there is a crime wave at Rocherlea, police say they don't know about it.
"It may be that not all incidents are reported to police," Inspector Johnston said.
"But all incidents that are reported, we respond to. If people have a complaint about the way a police officer has behaved or think that police aren't taking their complaint seriously, come and see me."
Inspector Johnston's comments come a day after residents at Rocherlea launched a parliamentary petition against antisocial behaviour they say is destroying their suburb.
The petitioners are demanding CCTV cameras and speed humps to put a cap on hooning, violence and vandalism.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said at least one of those demands may be easily dealt with.
Alderman van Zetten said he would talk to the Crime Stoppers Committee and Launceston police to see if a trial of the council's mobile CCTV cameras could be held in the suburb.
The petitioners are also calling for the government to sell off some of the public housing stock in the area.
Housing Tasmania operations manager Lynden Pennicott said 64 per cent of houses at Rocherlea were publicly owned.
Mr Pennicott condemned antisocial behaviour in the area, including a suspicious fire that destroyed the Blackwood Drive shop on Monday night. The Tasmanian Fire Service is still investigating the cause of that fire.
Mr Pennicott said a proposal to improve public housing in Rocherlea would be released in the coming weeks.