I live in Yokine, and I often go into the Minimart in Tuart Hill to buy the paper. I just read that it had been robbed last night. Thankfully no one was hurt. However the thief did brandish a gun, which must have been terrifying for whoever was working at the time.

Events like this are more and more frequent in this city. You just read about them all the time. Only a few days ago there was a terrifying home invasion in Dianella, the suburb I grew up in.

Back in those days, in the seventies and eighties, events like this did occur in Perth of course. But they seemed to be as rare as hen's teeth. And they always seemed to happen in some other suburb!

That's not to say that this city is some kind of crime capital compared to other Aussie cities. This is definitely a national trend, which is depressing in itself.