THE Southern Grampians has recorded its lowest family crime incident rate since 2018, while the number of criminal offences recorded in the year ending March 2022 has remained steady.

Data released by the Crime Statistics Agency last week revealed 249 family incidents were recorded in the Southern Grampians Shire, highlighting a decrease of 15.6 per cent from 295 incidents recorded in the year prior.

This marked a family incident rate of 1561.4 per 100,000 population, which was the lowest rate recorded in the past five years, however, was still significantly higher than the Victorian rate of 1360.4.

The Southern Grampians also had a criminal incident rate of 5010.4 per 100,000 population for the year ending March 2022, which was lower than the Victorian incident rate of 5142.2 for the same period, but showed an increase of one per cent from 791 incidents in 2021, to 799 incidents in 2022.

Of the criminal incidents recorded, charges were laid on 54.6 per cent (436), while no charges were laid for 20.9 per cent (167), with the remaining 24.5 per cent (196) unsolved.

Alarmingly, the number of criminal incidents occurring in the home increased from 276 last year to 282 this year, with criminal incidents also increasing in other location types including driveway/carport (increased from 21 to 48), front yard (increased from 18 to 28), and court (increased from 14 to 21).

Street/lane/footpath was the only location type to experience a decrease in criminal incidents in the year ending March 2022, reducing from 158 incidents last year to 134 this year.

Hamilton continued to record the most criminal incidents in the Southern Grampians Shire (639 incidents), with Coleraine taking second place (45 incidents), followed by Penshurst (20 incidents), Dunkeld (16 incidents), and Cavendish (12 incidents).

Of the above towns, all experienced an increase in the number of criminal incidents in the year ending March 2022, with Coleraine being the only town to experience a decrease in criminal incidents (decreasing from 48 to 45).

According to the data, the top five principal offence subgroups in the area were criminal damage (87 incidents compared to 77 last year), breaching a family violence order (76 incidents compared to 81 last year), breaching bail conditions (56 incidents compared to 44 last year), other theft (53 incidents compared to 63 last year), and stealing from a motor vehicle (43 incidents compared to 15 last year).

The person victimisation rate for the Southern Grampians in the year ending March 2022 was 2746.6 per 100,000 population, which was lower than the Victorian rate of 2926.3, however, the number of victim reports increased by 11.9 per cent to be 525, compared with 469 last year.

The victim reports were almost evenly split between males and females, with 220 males and 210 females making victim reports, with the highest age group for victims being over 55-year-olds (117 victim reports), followed by people aged under 24 years old (103 victim reports).

The main age groups for affected family members were 35-44 (53 affected members), followed by 18-24 and 25-34 age groups (48 affected members), and were predominately female, while the main age groups for offenders (other parties) were 35-44, 25-34, and 18-24 and were predominately male.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner of regional operations, Rick Nugent, said it was a very positive trend to see crime rates across the state continue to decrease. 

“It’s incredibly pleasing to see crime continue to reduce not only year-on-year, but from the levels we saw pre-pandemic as well,” he said.

“Importantly, we are seeing a reduction in the number of victims in our community and the number of people offending, particularly in relation to youth.

“This shows our collaboration with external partners to implement early intervention initiatives is making an impact and diverting young people away from crime.”

Mr Nugent said Victoria Police would continue to protect the community and work towards reducing the crime rates even further.

“Whether it’s the local police officers patrolling your neighbourhood, the AirWing’s eyes from up above, the PSOs patrolling your local train station, specialist investigators listening to the stories of victims and supporting them, or the detectives knocking on the doors of known serious and violent criminals - be assured Victoria Police is doing everything we can to keep you safe.”

Anyone with information about a crime is encouraged to contact the Hamilton Police Station on 5551 9100 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.