Police alert: crime rate to jump post-lockdowns

Most crimes in Victoria fell in 2021, but increasing numbers of strangers and neighbours decided to punch on

Police pursue a ute into the Eureka car park on City Road, Melbourne. Picture: Josie Hayden

Victoria’s overall crime rate has fallen, but common assault, affray, rioting and criminal damage offences jumped.

Crime Statistics Agency data for 2021 released on Thursday revealed the rate of offences fell by 12.6 per cent to 7,157 per 100,000 Victorians last year,

while the number of offences plunged 12.8 per cent to 477,999.

The CSA said the fall was partly fuelled by fewer breaches of Coronavirus pandemic health orders, while police said lockdowns had also played an

important roles in reducing burglaries, drug crimes and other offending.

Key findings included:

BURGLARIES were at their lowest level since 1993, with 21,277 homes broken into.

Police said while the amount of time people spent locked down in homes was partly responsible for the decline

there were 1,445 fewer home break-ins than in 2020 during the first year of the pandemic.

ROBBERIES fell to their lowest numbers since 2014, with about 350 fewer street robberies in 2021 compared with 2020.

Still, the stats showed that 2,534 people fell victim to this frightening crime during last year. Police said: “This was, in part, due to

lockdowns limiting opportunities for would-be offenders to target people in public locations, however as seen with burglaries,

there was still a notable decrease from 2020 when restrictions were in place for longer.”

THEFT-related offences fell by almost 14,000 in 2021, with 143,688 recording, down from the previous year’s 157,627.

Police said this was the lowest level since 2011. About 1800 fewer cars were stolen and about 3,350 fewer cars were broken into.

FAMILY violence offences decreased with more than 1000 fewer cases, down from 92,513 in 2020 to 91,144 in 2021. Police expressed caution about

this fall, warning reporting of historical offending could see the rate increase.

DRUG crimes fell significantly, with drug dealing and trafficking plunging by about 1,600 offences while drug use and possession reduced by around 8,600 offences.

Crime Statistics Agency data for 2021 released on Thursday revealed the rate of offences fell by 12.6 per cent to 7,157 per 100,000 Victorians last year.

Police warned this was expected to increase in the wake of the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

“With pubs and clubs back at full capacity and events such as music festivals resuming, police anticipate drug related offending will again rise in line

with people obtaining and using illicit drugs more frequently,” police said.

The CSA said the victimisation rate decreased by 3.3 per cent to 3,000 reports per 100,000 Victorians - the lowest ever reported by the agency.

Data for last year did show breaches of family violence orders were up 6.3 per cent, but the rate of offending in this category was down, with the CSA reporting

family incidents decreased 1.5 per cent during 2021 to 91,144 incidents. This is the first fall in this category since 2017.

“The rate of family incidents also decreased in the last 12 months, down 1.2 per cent to 1,364.7 incidents per 100,000 Victorians, also the first decrease since 2017,” the CSA said.

Victoria Police said common assaults increased by 678 offences and serious assaults rose by 402 offences, during the year. Riot and affray jumped by 292 offences,

which police partly linked to lockdown protests.

Police blamed a rise in disputes between neighbours and acquaintances that were not family-related.

“Over the course of the festive season and summer period, there were also large numbers of people enjoying being back at licensed venues and celebrating the end

of a tough year,” police said.

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

Victoria Police deputy commissioner (Regional Operations), Rick Nugent, said:

“While the highly unique environment in Victoria last year clearly contributed to the overall decrease in crime, it was incredibly positive to see a reduction in serious

offences which impact the community such as home burglaries, robberies and car thefts,” he said.

“While each victim of crime is one person too many, we are pleased that last year we had the lowest number of victims in Victoria since 2010, with almost 14,500

fewer victims of crime than the year prior.”

Deputy commissioner Nugent did warn that the state could experience a rise in crime as it emerges from the lockdown of the past two years.

“While it is likely that overall crime will increase as the community returns to normality, the early signs are relatively positive,” he said.

“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.”