While all of Western Australia has seen a small rise in crime over the last year, some areas have experienced a much bigger jump.
WAtoday analysed WA Police’s latest crime statistics, which give a 12-month picture by suburb to see which areas had suffered the biggest increase in issues, and found that more than 25 suburbs had experienced a rise in crime of more than 30 per cent in 2024.
Crime in Cockburn Central has risen by more than 50 per cent in the last year.Credit: Rebecca Peppiatt
Those suburbs include Glen Forrest, Harrisdale, Hilbert, Oakford, Parkerville and Stoneville, which all saw crime rise by more than 80 per cent.
These spikes are largely as a result of domestic violence-related crimes, as is the case in the northern suburb of Eglinton.
Home to nearly 4000 people, Eglinton, which sits about 44 kilometres north of Perth’s CBD, has experienced a 53 per cent rise in crime in the last year due to family assault charges and breaches of violence restraining orders.
It’s a similar story in Harrisdale in Perth’s south-east, where breaches of violence restraining orders went from 21 in 2023 up to 422 last year.
In nearby Piara Waters, family assaults doubled and breaches of violence restraining orders increased by more than 100 incidents in the last year.
Across the state, family assaults, threatening behaviour and breaches of violence restraining orders are at a 10-year high.
In contrast, burglaries across WA have almost halved since 2015 and crimes such as car theft and even fraud have reduced.
But one suburb that has seen a sharp rise in crime is Cockburn Central, a largely industrial hub south of the city.
Cockburn Central has experienced an increase in crime.Credit: Rebecca Peppiatt
Crime in Cockburn Central has risen by 48 per cent in the last year, mostly thanks to a sharp increase in property damage and stealing charges, which locals attributed to the town’s large shopping precinct.
“The cost of living crisis is driving people to a lot of opportunistic crimes,” said long-time City of Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett.
“This is a spike that happens from time to time and, as with all areas, we have some issues with homelessness at the moment that we are addressing, that’s contributing to some anti-social behaviour.”
People stealing from Cockburn Gateway Shopping City are being blamed for a rise in crime in the area. Credit: Rebecca Peppiatt
Howlett was not concerned about the rise in crime and said the city worked closely with local police and neighbourhood watch groups to stay across problems.
Cockburn Central isn’t the only town with a large shopping centre that has experienced an increase in trouble.
Midland, Morley, Cannington, Ellenbrook and Belmont have all experienced a rise in the crime in the last year – all areas that are home to shopping precincts – while Karrinyup, home to WA’s largest shopping centre, has seen crime rise by 17 per cent in the last year alone.
The Shopping Centre Council of Australia works closely with the state government and WA Police on issues impacting precincts, including the introduction of knife crime laws for shopping centres, which increased penalties for people who illegally owned a knife and those who sold knives to minors.
Council chief executive Angus Nardi said it was a “step in the right direction” to protect workers and visitors to shopping centres.
“Some shopping centres continue to experience more issues than others, part of which is driven by location and community wide issues,” he said.
“The government’s new knife crime laws enabling knife wanding operations in shopping centres are a positive deterrent, and we believe such laws, along with increased police presence aide the reduction in criminal incidents.”
Howlett said he was hopeful that, with the city of Cockburn’s 24-hour community safety patrol service, CoSafe, as well as an increase in CCTV cameras, crime in the area would reduce.
CoSafe officers are authorised and employed by the city, with specialised training and experience in community safety and deescalation methods.
“We get really good feedback from the community about CoSafe, and we believe the issues that we’re facing here are the same as everywhere else,” Howlett said.
“They’re temporary issues that will improve when the cost of living problems decline.”
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