Drugs, weapons offences increase in Victorian crime spike: new figures
New figures show crimes including stalking, harassment, family violence, dug and weapons offences are on the rise in Victoria.
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The number of weapon and drug crimes in Victoria have shot up, and the total tally of criminal incidents in the past calendar year rose 2 per cent.
The Crime Statistics Agency said yesterday there was a 1.7 per cent increase in the number of offences recorded in the year to December 31, but the rate of criminal incidents per 100,000 people had declined by 0.3 per cent.
Significant increases in crime over the past two years occurred for the offences of possessing and using drugs (12.3 per cent), dealing drugs (9.6 per cent), weapons and explosives breaches (9.3 per cent), stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour (8.8 per cent), and deception (7.3 per cent).
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There were also significant decreases in crime in the offences of burglary (12.8 per cent) and disorderly and offensive conduct (3.9 per cent).
There were slightly more attempted and successful carjackings (247) than in the previous year.
The state government and Victoria Police argued the increase in offences was a result of more police being on the beat making more arrests.
“What you see is more detected crime, more offenders being taken into custody. We expect that trend to continue,” Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said.
“We are processing more offenders than ever before. We have a record number of offenders processed. We are holding people to account. We are managing offenders, and enforcing better.”
He also said: “Police are cracking down on bail offending. When people breach their bail, they are being taken back into custody and put back before the courts.”
And he said more weapons would be taken off the streets once new powers were rolled out across Victoria, likely within the next six months.
All local police will soon be able to issue Firearm Prohibition Orders, which compel a recipient to surrender their weapons or face up to five years in jail. Mr Patton said up to 170 orders had been issued since the laws were introduced last May.
He said police would continue to focus on transport hubs and major events in their search for weapons.
Mr Patton said eliminating drugs was a major priority, and the force was well informed on the “big players” in the drug trade.
Police Minister Lisa Neville also attributed rises in some criminal offences to the increased number of police on the beat, saying the figures showed crime had stabilised.
She also said new DNA laws would likely lead to a future bump-up in figures.
The number of sexual offences had fallen for the first time ever, she said. Family violence makes up about 20 per cent of all offending.
Mr Patton said police were continually challenged by the emergence of patterns of crime they had not envisioned, and looked overseas and interstate for inspiration on how to tackle them.
“I want people to be held to account. When they are a risk on the streets, I want them locked up,” he said.
“I can’t put my hand on heart and say we aren’t going to see another rise in youth offending, but we are doing our best to avoid that.”