SWAN Hill Council’s 2024 crime statistics have been released by the Crime Statistics Agency and show a 3.6 per cent decrease in total criminal incidents.
Family incidents increased to 793 from 597 incidents in 2023 at a 23.8 per cent jump, bringing the Swan Hill rate to more than double that of Victoria.
The data shows 551 females and 187 males were affected family members, with 35-44 the highest affected age group at 168, and 25-34 the second highest age group at 155. Ninety-two 17-year-olds and under were affected by family incidents.
Swan Hill Police Acting Senior Sergeant Matthew Wade said the department was encouraging people to come forward, not only as a victim of family violence but as witnesses.
“We don’t want to see a time that people feel they can’t report on family violence or are worried about the effects of reporting it,” he said.
“The other side of that is that we want to hold people accountable of their actions and make sure we’re getting successful prosecutions, and curve the behaviour that leads to family violence.”
Breach of family violence order was the highest offence subgroup at 192 incidents, almost 30 more incidents than in 2023.
Sen-Sgt Wade said the orders that were in place to protect family violence victims were being effective in helping perpetrators be held accountable.
“It’s a double-edged sword with crime statistics around family violence, and it’s always alarming, but for me in my job I see those incidents as a situation where we’ve intervened and helped someone get the support they need to come forward,” he said.
“It’s good in a sense but at the same time we don’t like that behaviour – it would be great if the statistic was zero and we could live a happy harmonious life, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
“We will continue to work with our partners such as Orange Door and Mallee Domestic Violence Service and keep strengthening those relationships so we can provide a safe place for people to come forward.”
A Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) spokesperson said a greater awareness of family violence and increased access to support following Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence had contributed to an increase in family violence reporting.
“The Orange Door network is dedicated to ensuring that those who are experiencing violence or who need help with their children get the support they need, where and when they need it,” the spokesperson said.
“Victorian Government investment in supporting family violence victim survivors includes the rollout of our statewide Orange Door Network to more than 60 locations, which have helped more than half a million Victorians including more than 200,000 children.
“The Orange Door in the Mallee provides face-to-face support as well as via phone and email and has supported more than 20,000 people including more than 8300 children since it began operations in 2018.”
The Orange Door works with Victoria Police to ensure victim survivors are supported, including when making a police statement.
The crime statistics also showed thefts from retail stores nearly doubled, with 80 recorded offences in 2024.
“We’ve put operations in place such as foot patrols through the CBD and targeted efforts into that behaviour, but it’s an unfortunate sign, possibly of the rising cost of living, and it’s definitely worrying,” Sen-Sgt Wade said.
“We recommend retailers install CCTV cameras and make sure they are reporting offending thefts from stores, even the littlest of thefts, because if they’re not reported and they get away with it they may be encouraged to continue.
“We find a lot of these are repeat offenders and if we have their identities we can try and monitor them with bail conditions.
“We follow up with every report of theft that comes our way.”
Robinvale recorded an increase of almost 70 criminal incidents in 2024, which Sen-Sgt Wade attributed to the capabilities of the local department.
“Robinvale has a full contingent of staff, which I think could be reflected in their statistics – officers are out in the community more, patrolling the streets, providing a service to the community for longer hours, which has enabled an increase in reporting and detection of crime,” he said.
Going into 2025, Sen-Sgt Wade said road policing would remain a priority.
“Being such a large community that covers such a large area with lots of back roads, we do focus on speed, drink and drugs and distracted driving which cause a large number of collisions,” he said.
“We do see our town population swell on public holidays, weekends and holidays, and we are maintaining a visual presence on the road so drivers are aware they need to pay attention and drive safely.”
The full dataset is available at crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/latest-crime-data-by-area.
