Crime rates in Victoria have significantly declined as people stay at home

Victoria’s strict coronavirus lockdown laws have driven crime rates down to the lowest they’ve been since 2014. But there are fears for victims of domestic violence after a drop in reports.

Crime has plummeted in Victoria with the average daily offences dropping to 2014 levels.

In a positive twist to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been fewer residential burglaries, robberies, assaults, sexual offences and home invasions.

The decline is attributed to people being at home more, and the closure of pubs and clubs. But worryingly, there has been a slight increase in aggravated burglary cases.

Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton revealed the latest crime data this morning, saying: “We’ve seen a significant reduction in the number of categories throughout this period.

“In fact, what we saw was the record — the lowest daily average for offences in an April period since 2014.

“I repeat that again, the lowest daily average of offences in the month of April since June 2014, so six years ago.

“We’ve had the COVID-19 restrictions in place; where we’ve had limited movement (and) opportunities … for offenders in relation to persons who are wandering around in public.

“We saw significant reductions in robbery right across Victoria, and that is primarily … because the opportunities for the interaction — because of people having to stay at home right through that period — the opportunity was not there.”

Dep Commissioner Patton said family violence incidents appear to be stable at the moment and had in fact “slightly declined”.

But it is feared this may be due to under-reporting after Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville appeared before a parliamentary inquiry this week warning police suspected domestic violence was up, but authorities were not being alerted.

She also warned there had been 700 cases of “high-end harm” identified after police freed up by the low crime rate were redeployed to high risk family violence cases.

Dep Commissioner Patton said exact figures were not yet available and while an anecdotal drop initially was good, police would need some time “to analyse what that means”.

The Police Assistance Line saw a major spike in calls in April; however, these mostly related to Victorians dobbing in lockdown breaches.

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