Crime statistics reveal drop in overall crime despite ‘crime wave’ claims

Crime statistics for the past 12 months are in, revealing a spike in one type of crime and contradicting claims by influencer Rebecca Judd of a crime wave in her suburb.

Crime is down across the board in Victoria over the past 12 months — including in the affluent bayside suburb of Brighton where influencer Rebecca Judd claimed a crime wave was being driven by “rapes, bashings and home invasions”.

Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency on Thursday released crime data for the year ending June 30.

The statistics showed victimisation rates throughout the state are the lowest they have been since 2004.

Victoria Police recorded 469,506 criminal offences in 12 months to June, down from 521,645 in the same period a year earlier. That represents a 10 per cent drop.

Covid restrictions were in place for roughly 85 days of the current reporting cycle, but Victoria Police say the trend continued once lockdowns ended.

Rebecca Judd used her platform last year to rally against what she claimed was a crime wave in Brighton. Picture: Instagram

Significantly, the statistics fly in the face of claims that the Bayside LGA was experiencing a crime wave in June last year.

The claims made by Judd helped push the Victorian Liberal opposition to promise a new Brighton police station if elected in November.

Victoria Police closed Brighton police station in 2010 while the Liberal Party was in government.

Total offences recorded in the Bayside area were 4550 up to June this year, down 5.1 per cent from 4796 in 2021.

Criminal incidents in Bayside were again the lowest of any southern metropolitan area with 3495 per 100,000. That figure is down from 3667 in 2021.

The 3495 criminal incidents are the second lowest figure in all of metropolitan Melbourne ahead of only Nillumbik on 1293 per 100,000 people.

For comparison, Melbourne had 25,482 criminal incidents per 100,000 people in the previous 12 months.

Wyndham had 12,173 and Brimbank had 11,883.

There were 296 assaults in Bayside over the past 12 months, down from 299 in 2021. In Brighton, there were 72, down from 73 the year before.

Judd took to Instagram last year to accuse the Victorian state government of allowing crime to get out of hand in the area.

“So sick of the rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of gangs in Bayside,’’ she wrote in an Instagram story.

“The state government don’t seem to care. We feel unsafe.”

However, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews retorted at the time by saying he’s “not interested in having an argument with Ms Judd” after she claimed the state government doesn’t care about Brighton residents’ safety concerns.

“I’m also obliged to point out, though, I think there are more than 70 additional police in the Bayside area,” Mr Andrews said.

A news.com.au analysis of crime statistics published in June showed the Bayside local government area was the safest in the southern metropolitan area and the second safest Melbourne council area overall.

Rebecca Judd wrote on Instagram that she was sick of the “rapes, bashings and home invasions”.

It found burglaries and break-ins in Bayside were down to their lowest level in 10 years last year.

Judd hit back saying she was concerned about a spike after that reporting period that had not yet been shown in Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency data.

“I’m glad my voice has shone a light on the escalating aggravated burglaries in Bayside,” Judd told The Australian.

But the data released on Thursday reveals there was no spike in overall crime.

Member for Brighton James Newbury said the station would be game changing for concerned residents.

“The Brighton community has been victim to disturbing incidents of crime; we need to improve safety and crime prevention measures in our local community,” Mr Newbury said.

“A new police shopfront, in a busy shopping strip like Church St, will be a gamechanger for Brighton, Brighton East, and Hampton.”