Crime keeps falling in Victoria, latest figures show
Violent carjacking and home invasions continue to be a concern for police, despite a fall in crime across the state.
Law & Order
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Violent carjacking and home invasions are a continued concern for police, who plan to throw more resources at the problem.
The latest crime statistics show there were 218 carjacking offences across Victoria this year, up 55 per cent on 2017.
And there were just under 200 home-invasion offences, slightly down on last year.
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Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said the high- harm offences are a major target area for police.
“They will be a focus going forward,” he said.
“Public safety is number one but you need to be safe in your home.
“We are already focusing on it through tasking and intelligence, but we will continue to throw resources and additional detectives to address the risk of those home invasions and carjackings.”
Crime Statistics Agency data released on Thursday revealed a 1.6 per cent drop in criminal incidents, or by 6388 incidents, to 384,183 in the past 12 months.
It is the lowest number recorded since the year ending September 2015.
Mr Patton said there were 8600 fewer victims of crime — the lowest number in a decade.
Police also processed a record 174,000 people.
“It’s the most we have ever seen,” Mr Patton said.
“We are in the business of arresting people and holding them to account.”
However, sexual offences were up 6.7 per cent (8010 to 8544), stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour up 6.4 per cent (6745 to 7175), family incidents up 3.5 per cent (75,371 to 78,001) and breaches of orders up 5.2 per cent (57,354 to 60,311).
Mr Patton said the rise in breaches was because police were “quicker” to act.
“We are locking them up quicker, which is making a difference,” he said.
CRIME FALLS AS COPS GET TOUGH
Crime has dropped in Victoria but sexual and drug offences are on the rise.
Crime Statistics Agency figures released on Thursday show the number of criminal incidents recorded across the state dropped.
The number of incidents has been on the decline for the past two years.
Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton and Police Minister Lisa Neville attributed the drop to proactive efforts by police to deter crime.
“We are holding these offenders to account,” Mr Patton said.
Burglary and break-and-enter criminal incidents were among the crimes to decline over the 12-month period, down 14.1 per cent from 46,494 to 39,928.
Mr Patton said residential burglaries were at a record low, in part due to a quicker forensic analysis turnaround.
“This is the lowest we have ever seen. In the year 2000, there were about 80,000 burglaries,” he said.
“We are achieving this through legislative reforms, extra resourcing, proper tasking, intelligence and quick turnaround of forensic identification. In the past, it would take us a lot longer to turn around, so instead of a person going on a drug-fuelled bender, we are getting to them quicker and when we do that, there are less crimes being committed.”
However, drug-related offences jumped 2.4 per cent to 15,369 incidents this year.
Mr Patton said: “We say that’s a good thing. It shows that police are proactive and doing the right thing, which is what the community expects us to do.”
Sexual offences, stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour and family incidents also increased.
Ms Neville said a rise in sexual offences was a “good thing” because it meant more victims were reporting.
“This is the space we want to be in. Down is better than up,” she said.
“We want to see less victims, less harm and this is what we have seen in the past two years.
“But that doesn’t mean our focus is any less. We will continue to be relentless and focus on making the state safer and having less victims of crime.”
However, Opposition police spokesman David Southwick said the statistics were “selective”.
“Most alarmingly, over the past year, the largest cohort of offenders committing crimes against the person are offenders aged between 15 and 19 years of age. According to the Crime Statistics Agency, 6801 offenders were between the ages of 15 to 19 years,” Mr Southwick said. “Daniel Andrews is not only failing on crime, he is failing to tackle the causes of crime.
“To see so many young offenders is a sign that Victoria’s prized social cohesion is in jeopardy.”
The five local government areas (LGAs) with the highest criminal incident rates were:
1. Melbourne (15,765.1 incidents per 100,000 estimated resident population, down 5.3 per cent)
2. Latrobe (13,212.2 incidents per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 3.4 per cent)
3. Yarra (11,559.8 incidents per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 4.0 per cent)
4. Mildura (9,580.5 incidents per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 6.3 per cent)
5. Greater Shepparton (9,326.0 incidents per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 3.0 per cent)
The five LGAs with the highest recorded offence rates were:
1. Melbourne (21,172.6 offences per 100,000 estimated resident population, down 6.6 per cent)
2. Latrobe (19,358.2 offences per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 5.5 per cent)
3. Horsham (15,217.3 offences per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 21.6 per cent)
4. Yarra (14,287.2 offences per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 4.6 per cent)
5. Greater Shepparton (13,132.2 offences per 100,000 estimated resident population, up 7.4 per cent)