Known criminals targeted to bust crime, keep offending down, Geelong’s top cop says

New data has revealed whether crime is rising or falling in each town and suburb across Greater Geelong, the Surf Coast and Golden Plains. SEARCH YOUR SUBURB

Family violence incidents are being reported on average more than 10 a day in Greater Geelong and almost 250 a day statewide, latest crime data reveals.

Overall the number of family violence incidents dropped by about 90 in 2021 across Greater Geelong, with 4194 incidents involving a police presence.

In the Surf Coast Shire the number of family violence incidents was steady with 298 in 2021 and 316 in 2020.

Breaches of a family violence order increased 48.5 per cent in Corio, from 249 offences in 2020 to 370 offences in 2021, according to the crime data.

Across Victoria, reported family violence incidents dropped by more than 1000 in 2021, falling from 92,513 in 2020 to 91,144 in 2021.

Total criminal incidents were down from 16,564 in 2020 to 14,767 in 2021 in the City of Greater Geelong with police saying the drop in crime was partly due to Covid lockdown.

According to Crime Statistics Agency data, 45.2 per cent of the 14,767 incidents in Greater Geelong, or 6672, were unsolved as of December 31.

Geelong region police Superintendent Peter Ward said police were proactively targeting crime by speaking with known offenders and making it as hard as possible for them to reoffend.

Supt Peter Ward

“Police leave no stone unturned when it comes to solving crimes in our community,” Superintendent Ward said.

“That could mean obtaining extra police resources at a particular time to work on a particular case, or looking at new ways of gathering intelligence to track down offenders.”

In the Surf Coast Shire total criminal incidents were down from 1197 in 2020 to 1079 in 2021 with a fall in property and deception offences recorded.

In the Borough of Queenscliffe criminal incidents dropped by 26 to 74 incidents in 2021.

Drug offences decreased 35.6 per cent in Geelong in 2021 and property and deception offences were down 15.9 per cent.

“As the Geelong community continues to emerge from the pandemic environment and people move around more freely, people can expect to see police officers out in the community keeping them safe,” Superintendent Ward said.

Serious assaults not related to family violence in Greater Geelong were up from 344 in 2020 to 410 in 2021.

Superintendent Ward said “too many people took their celebrations too far” this summer.

“There were a number of factors behind the increase in serious assaults, including disputes between parties known, such as neighbours and other acquaintances that were not family-related,” he said.

“Over the summer period, we saw large numbers of people enjoying themselves again after a tough year.

“Disappointingly too many people took their celebrations too far, getting involved in fights and injuring others who were simply trying to enjoy themselves.”

Superintendent Ward said police were honing in on crime in Corio where offences were up overall partly due to increases in break-ins.

“The community can rest assured that police are working tirelessly to proactively target these crimes – including police vehicles patrolling known hot spots to keep car thieves at bay,” he said.

“We also saw a significant increase in family violence order breaches in Corio, which is due to the proactive police work being done in the community to check up on known offenders, making it easier for vulnerable family members to report these breaches.

About 150 additional police officers, including 13 family violence specialists, have been allocated to the Geelong division since 2016.

Victoria Police’s Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Rick Nugent said: “While it is likely that overall crime will increase as the community returns to normality, the early signs are relatively positive.”

“To date, we have not seen a rapid return across all crime categories, with police intelligence indicating overall offending still remains below pre-pandemic levels,” he said.

There was 477,999 criminal offences recorded in Victoria in 2021, a decrease of 12.8 per cent or 70,087 offences from 2020.

Originally published as Known criminals targeted to bust crime, keep offending down, Geelong’s top cop says