CRIME in Swan Hill has bucked a statewide trend and dropped by nearly 20 per cent in the past two years.
After a near 5 per cent rise at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, criminal incidents dropped 9 per cent in the 12 months ending in March after a 9 per cent fall in the previous period, according to Crime Statistics Agency data released last week.
The five top principal offence subgroups in the past 12 months included breaches of family violence orders (down eight incidents to 165), criminal damage (down 17 to 152), breaching bail conditions (down 24 to 121), common assault (up 15 to 91) and drug possession (up 21 to 86).
Incidents increased in Nyah West and Lake Boga, while criminal activity dropped in Swan Hill and Robinvale.
Charges were laid in 51 per cent of incidents, while 23 per cent of incidents had no charges laid and 25 per cent remained unsolved.
Family violence incidents dropped by 10.6 per cent, from 633 to 566.
There were 496,589 criminal offences recorded in Victoria in the 12 months to March, representing an increase of 26,424 offences or 5.6 per cent from the previous year.
Victoria Police deputy commissioner of regional operations Rick Nugent said overall crime in Victoria was “gradually” increasing from the low levels of 2020-21, however remained more than 9 per cent below pre-COVID levels.
“Serious offences including family violence serious assaults, rape, sex offences against children, and stalking and harassment all recorded reductions,” he said.
“While this is positive, there are clearly a number of areas of concern that police are investing significant energy and resources towards.
“Every single night, we have significant numbers of local police working alongside the air wing, dog squad and public order response team until dawn to prevent burglaries and car thefts from occurring.
“As part of this Melbourne-wide operation, over the past three months we have arrested more than 200 burglars and car thieves during the night alone.
“Our intelligence is telling us there has been a decrease in burglaries and associated car thefts since the operation commenced, however we will not let up.
“Serious and violent youth crime is another ongoing focus, with Operation Alliance leading to the arrest of around 450 youth gang members a combined total of more than 1500 times over the past year.
“Youth gangs remain an issue, however our intense focus on disrupting and dismantling these gangs is reaping benefits.
“In the past few years, we have reduced the number of serious and violent youth gang members on our watchlist, with 137 less known youth gang members in Victoria than when Operation Alliance commenced in September 2020.”
Swan Hill police Inspector Gerard de Vries was unavailable to comment before deadline.
