Robbery not allowed (Photo credit: Arenamontanus)Police are under intense pressure at both ends of the state as a series of armed robberies and drive-by shootings leave Tasmania in the grip of a crimewave.
While Hobart recorded four shootings last week and three further gun-related incidents in the past three months, Launceston has been under siege as armed robbers target inner-city, busy businesses armed with deadly weapons.
The North has recorded six high-end armed robberies in the past month.
A woman was accosted by a male in a public car park at Scottsdale in the early evening on Thursday as she made her way to her vehicle.
The man was wearing a balaclava and produced a knife and demanded money as she tried to get into her car.
On Friday, the Commonwealth Bank in the busy Newstead shopping precinct was targeted.
Police arrested a 24-year-old Burnie man in Launceston's CBD on Saturday.
He appeared before the Launceston Magistrates Court yesterday.
But the majority of these crimes remain unsolved, leaving residents wondering what will come next.
"This is critically serious," acting president Robbie Dunn said.
"We're seeing threats to people's lives, and serious injuries."
Sergeant Dunn rejected Police Minister David O'Byrne's recent comment that "it's not Underbelly".
"Tasmania's underbelly is armed, it's prepared to use [the weapons], and the rate of shootings and crime is going through the roof," he said.
"But while the under-resourced police service is out there chasing these gun-toting maniacs, we have a government dismissing the issue."
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