Wyndham Police ‘well-equipped’ to tackle family violence scourge, cops say

Family violence is suspected to have driven a rise in the number of assaults across Wyndham, but police say they’re ready and well-equipped to tackle the scourge.

Assaults are on the rise across Wyndham and police believe family violence could be behind the trend. Picture: GENERIC

Violent attacks and thefts have risen year on year in Wyndham, with total crime up more than 20 per cent across the municipality.

Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Point Cook, Tarneit and Wyndham Vale were the most trouble plagued suburbs, according to the Crime Statistics Agency figures released on Friday.

Assaults and related offences jumped up each year for the past five years across the region, rising from 895 offences recorded by police in the year to March 2015 to 1499 this year.

More than 17,200 offences were logged by police in the past 12 months, and thefts made up a strong proportion of the total tally, with 6847 offences recorded.

Werribee Senior Sergeant Stephen O’Connell said many assaults were family violence related but police were ready and well-equipped to attend violence incidents.

Police were also well-placed to refer victims to support agencies and offer whatever support they could, he said, and he encouraged anyone experiencing violence at home to call police.

“We’ve got very good systems in place,” Sen-Sgt O’Connell said.

Police also proactively reached out to youth through schools and community programs to build positive relationships and discourage offending, he said.

And he said people could take simple steps to avoid becoming victims of theft.

“That’s probably our biggest theme in theft is theft from cars,” Sen-Sgt O’Connell said.

“We want people to have number plate screws that prevent number plate thefts, lock their vehicles and park their vehicles off the street if possible.”

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