Crime falls again across Victoria

CRIME has fallen across Victoria again, according to the latest 12-month statistics, with offences on the Surf Coast falling nearly 20 per cent over the past four years.

Last week, the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) released the Victorian recorded crime statistics for the year ending June 30.

Over the past 12 months the number of criminal incidents dropped by 5.6 per cent or 22,876 incidents to 383,100.

The criminal incident rate also declined by 7.8 percent to 5,921.9 incidents per 100,000 Victorians.

According to the CSA, these are the lowest figures since the year ending June 2015.

Labor says its record community safety investment is behind crime falling for the fifth quarter in a row, with 64 out of 79 local government areas (LGA) experiencing a decrease in their crime rate compared to the previous 12 months.

Locally, there were 1,128 recorded offences in the Surf Coast Shire – down from the 1,303 recorded in 2017 and down again from the 1,532 recorded in 2016.

Greater Geelong also saw a fall in offenses, down from 22,714 in 2017 to 21,631 in 2018. However, the number of offences nearly doubled in the Borough of Queenscliffe – up from 151 in 2017 to 294 in 2018.

“Our unprecedented investment in Victoria Police is making a difference with the crime rate continuing to fall – quarter on quarter – as more frontline police hit the streets,” Police Minister Lisa Neville said.

“There’s still more work to do; we want to drive the crime rate down as low as possible.”

“We back Victoria Police and we will continue to give them the resources, technology and the equipment they need to respond to and crack down on crime.”

In response, the Opposition released statistics showing the number of total offences had risen by more than 10 per cent statewide since Labor had been in power, and only 13 LGAs (including the Surf Coast) had recorded reductions over that period (December 2014 to June 2018).

Shadow Minister for Women Emma Kealy said there had been a “shocking” increase in violent crime, including a 20.82 per cent increase in rape and a 33.2 per cent increase in sexual offences.

“The data shows more than 40 sexual offence crimes are recorded each day.”