Sydney shootings still out of control: AG February 27, 2013 - 10:42AM NSW Attorney General Greg Smith says there's a long way to go until drive-by shootings in western Sydney are brought under control. Addressing a Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) conference in Sydney, Mr Smith said the problem of drive-by shootings was "smaller now than it was in 2001." However, he conceded the coalition government had not yet been able to fully combat it across western Sydney. "It's of great concern and we still have a long way to go in bringing it fully under control," Mr Smith told the conference. The comments come after a wave of shootings in the city's west that have forced NSW police to establish Operation Apollo, a special strike force targeting gun crime. Mr Smith also told the conference that declining tax revenue meant the state had to find ways other than prison to deal with crime. "We can't keep spending more and more taxpayers' money on prison at a time of falling tax revenues," he said. We can't hope to control crime by brute force alone. Cheaper crime control methods included smarter policing, redesigning the built environment and early intervention with young offenders, he said. He also said violence against women "remained a major problem." In 2012 around 200,000 women aged over 15 were victims of physical violence, Mr Smith said.