By Tanya Steele
Property-related crimes have driven up crime across Victoria this year and overall crime is up across the Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley according to the latest figures from the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA).
Repeat offenders, property theft, family violence and youth crime remain a priority for Victoria Police after the recent release with cost of living being floated as partly responsible for the rise.
Criminal incidents in Casey were up by 13.3 per cent, Cardinia 10.7 per cent, Knox by 8.3 per cent, Maroondah by five per cent and the Yarra Ranges by 2.1 per cent since last year.
The top categories in crime for these areas all included breaches of family violence orders, criminal damages, motor vehicle, retail and other thefts in varying orders while across Victoria theft and criminal damages took out the top five.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Brett Curran said while family violence and child and youth crime remain significant concerns, it’s pleasing that almost three years since the final Victorian coronavirus restriction was lifted, our crime rate remains 6.2 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
“Police intelligence from Operation Trinity also indicates the top 20 burglars and car thieves in Melbourne have committed almost one fifth of all burglaries where a car was stolen over the past year.
A spokesperson from police media has said repeat offenders account for over two-thirds of the state’s total crimes.
“This is particularly relevant for offences such as home burglaries and theft,” they said.
“While overall crime has gradually increased since Victoria emerged from the pandemic, offending has still not reached pre-pandemic levels.”
CSA Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said there has been a 17 per cent increase in theft offences in Victoria recorded in the last 12 months.
“This rapid increase in crimes involving the acquisition of property may be related to cost of living pressures,” she said.
“The increase in property-related crime was the largest contributor to the overall increase in crime in the last year.”
Victoria Police have said police intelligence has shown unlocked vehicles are being targeted, with more than 60 per cent of cars recently broken into in one hotspot found to be unlocked.
“The most common theft (other) offence is theft of petrol, which may also be linked to cost of living pressures,” they said.
Motor vehicle theft has peaked with the the highest number of offences since 2017 in Victoria and police intelligence indicated the three most common places cars are stolen are from a residential area (with no associated offence), non-residential street or carpark, and during an aggravated burglary.
Retail outlets are being hit with thefts targeting essential items like food and police intelligence have said this indicates as many as 50% of offenders are first time shop stealers, while a quarter are first time criminal offenders.
Victoria Police also responded to a record number of family violence incidents – with almost 96,000 family violence callouts in the twelve months to March 2024.
That works out to one family violence incident every six minutes in Victoria.
Family violence offending in was up in by Casey 2.6 per cent, Cardinia had a 7.3 per cent increase, Knox had a 2.8 per cent rise, Maroondah had a slight increase at 0.3 per cent and Yarra Ranges reported a 0.8 per cent increase.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Curran said the scourge of family violence has been felt across the nation this year, with a number of high-profile homicides involving partners and ex-partners who were predominantly men.
“The response to family violence remains a critical priority for Victoria Police. We have thousands of police working tirelessly to apprehend family violence perpetrators and bring them before the courts to ensure the safety of victim-survivors,” he said.
“We are also proactively engaging with perpetrators to ensure they are complying with intervention orders and bail conditions so that victim-survivors feel and are safe.”
Despite additional resources in place some local government areas in the outer east of Victoria are facing steady rises in youth crime.
Under 18-year-olds are committing crimes at rates that are rising at concerning levels with Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency reporting a steady increase in the last year.
The state average increase of 20.1 per cent saw that crimes committed by children aged 10 to 17 have risen to their highest levels since 2010.
Municipalities throughout the outer east have had varying changes, Knox has had youth crime continue to rise steadily in the last two years and has increased by 37.04 per cent for 2024.
Cardinia Shire and Yarra Ranges have had significantly less with both regions reporting over ten per cent less crime than 2023.
Casey has risen by over 10 per cent and Maroondah hit a 16.54 per cent increase – bringing it much closer to the state average for 2024.
With 22,298 incidents reported, Victoria Police said that repeat offending among child offenders remains a challenge for police with a 10.4 per cent increase in children aged 10 to 17 who are committing repeat crimes in Victoria.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Brett Curran said that crimes committed by children under the age of 18 continue to rise at concerning levels, with this cohort significantly overrepresented in serious and violent crimes such as aggravated burglaries, car thefts, high-risk driving and robberies.
“Victoria Police continues to invest significant resources towards curbing these offenders – arresting seven youth gang members, child burglars and underage car thieves each day over the past year as part of our two major youth-focused operations – Alliance and Trinity,” he said.
Operation Trinity alone sees 70 additional police including Dog Squad, Public Order Response and Air Wing rostered each night, on top of existing patrols, conducted every night in areas including Dandenong, Cardinia, Casey, Knox, Maroondah, and the Yarra Ranges.
“There are a relatively small group of hardened child offenders causing significant community harm. This includes over 160 youth gang members who were arrested three or more times last year and another 38 who were arrested ten or more times as part of Operation Alliance,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Curran said.
A recent major investigation by the Eastern Region Crime Squad led to 46 arrests in connection to over 140 cigarette burglaries and armed robberies at service stations, supermarkets, and tobacconists across Melbourne this year.
Many suburbs throughout Cardinia, Knox and the Yarra Ranges were affected by these as recently as late May.
While most arrests were children, four adults were also arrested.
Police will allege these men were the orchestrators behind the network of children aged 12- 17 who stole over $2 million of cigarettes and cash.
This was a highly significant result, and police will continue to target those behind this offending.
Police media have said that child and youth offenders are changing their offending habits, due to being targeted by police or if more lucrative offending opportunities arise.
“Victoria Police will continue to closely monitor new and emerging crime trends to ensure we always remain one step ahead of offenders to prevent crime and keep the community safe,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Curran said.
