More youth, women committing violent crimes: police

Queensland's Police Commissioner says more young people and more women are committing violent crimes.

Bob Atkinson says police figures show children as young as 12 are increasingly becoming involved in serious offences.

He says there has also been a rise in the use of knives, swords and machetes.

"Seems to be happening across the board, particularly in England at the moment as well and certainly in other parts of Australia," he said.

"Obviously it's linked, generally speaking, to groups of young men or young men in ones or twos thinking that they need to be armed."

Six degrees of separation a possibility: researchers

Researchers at Microsoft say the popular belief that everyone on the planet can be linked by a string of six acquaintances is statistically almost exactly right.

The company analysed the senders and recipients of 30 billion instant messages over a month.

They established that any two strangers could be linked by an average string of 6.6 relationships.

Man charged over Sydney rape spree

Police have charged a man over a spate of sexual assaults in Sydney's western suburbs.

His arrest comes after the public release yesterday of closed circuit television images.

There were three attacks in June, two on 17-year-old girls waiting at bus stops at Kellyville and Blacktown and a 16-year-old at Mount Druitt.

In May a 16-year-old girl was attacked at Quakers Hill, and in April a 19-year-old woman was attacked while waiting at a bus stop at Castle Hill.

Police say a 23-year-old man attended Mount Druitt police station shortly before 8:00pm AEST yesterday and was questioned by detectives from the Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad.

Early this morning police searched his home at Minchinbury and seized a number of items including clothing for forensic testing.

He has been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court later today on numerous charges including three counts of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of aggravated robbery, stalking and intimidation.

The Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad commander, Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec, says the victims are being informed.

"I'm aware that's occurring now, one of our investigators is on the phone to victims as we speak," he said.

'Drunk tanks' planned for troublemakers

DRUNK tanks to hold intoxicated troublemakers until they sober up are being considered by police.

The sobering-up centres would be used in the fight against drunkenness and street crime, The Herald Sun reports.

Senior officers held talks with the Brumby Government this week about the tanks, which are similar to holding cells but with safeguards to protect detainees' health.

The Herald Sun believes they would be modelled on overseas "bed-and-bucket" facilities, with few fittings, allowing drunks to be treated and closely monitored.

In May, sobering-up centres were backed by Australia's chief police commissioners.

Police Minister Bob Cameron confirmed the issue was raised this week.

Based on overseas models, the drunk tanks would have security cameras.

People arrested for being drunk would be held until they were deemed to be no threat to themselves or the public.

Police refused to respond to Herald Sun questions on how the tanks would work and where they would be located.

But a spokeswoman said: "Victoria Police is constantly considering options to combat public drunkenness and disorderly behaviour."

Mr Cameron's spokeswoman said: "We've had some preliminary discussions with police about the concept."

She said police were yet to make a formal submission.

Melbourne's CBD or regional centres such as Geelong and Ballarat would be the most likely candidates for the first drunk tanks.

They would free up space in holding cells and enable police to protect drunks at risk of harming themselves or isolate those who might harm others.

Fat kids mean primary school uniforms up to size 20

PRIMARY school students are stretching school uniform shops with orders for dresses up to size 20 as Australia's obesity crisis worsens.
Uniform providers say children are getting fatter younger and their parents are demanding bigger sizes so their offspring do not look out of place in the schoolyard.
In secondary schools the situation is more extreme with reports that a 15-year-old girl had to ask for a size 32 dress and boys' blazers are expanding up to 130cm across the chest, or 6XL.
Nutrition experts have warned tailors to continue extending their patterns because the obesity problem was expected to get worse in the next decade.
The number of overweight and obese children has increased from 10 per cent in the 1980s to more than 30 per cent today, Deakin University researchers say.
Dressmakers say children's expanding waist lines were causing confusion, as standard measurements have been changed to deal with super-sized students. Some uniform providers were afraid to make public comment about students' expanding girth for fear of upsetting customers.
"Primary school students are getting bigger, earlier," a uniform seller who asked not to be named said.
"We used to sell dresses for primary school students up to 16, but we've had to go up to size 20."
Beleza School Uniforms, which has 15 shops across Melbourne, has noticed demand for bigger sizes increasing in the past two years.
Frankston store manager Margaret Magill said the company had increased its range of school dresses from a maximum of 22 to 26 to make sure children were in correct uniform. But special orders still had to be made for some students who could not find anything that fitted, she said.
Jo Kellock, executive director of the Council of Textiles and Fashion Industries of Australia, has called for a national census of waistlines to come up with new standard sizing.