ALARMINGLY, the Hamilton Magistrates’ Court on Martin Street has been the scene of a dramatic increase in the number of criminal incidents recorded in the year ending March 2023.

Crime at the local courthouse spiked to 34 incidents, up from 21 the previous year - a 62 per cent increase, according to statistics released this week by the Crime Statistics Agency.

A police spokesperson said the vast majority of offences at court were attributed to justice procedures like breaching community corrections orders.

Other offences allegedly ranged from assault, to attempting to bring in contraband (i.e. knives), and people breaching intervention orders by defendants attending court with protected persons.

The Hamilton courthouse is the only court in the Southern Grampians Shire, with criminal cases being heard most Wednesdays.

Meanwhile, almost a quarter of criminal activities recorded in the 12 months to the end of March 2023 in the Southern Grampians remain unsolved at 23.8 per cent of the total 747 incidents recorded - up more than 3 per cent from 20.7 per cent unsolved from the 798 the year before.

However, the statistics showed that the total number of criminal incidents in the Shire for this period was down by 6.4 per cent.

In 57.3 per cent of cases (428 incidents) charges were laid, significantly less than the percentage recorded for the previous 12 months of 64.3 per cent or 513 incidents resulting in charges.

In 18.9 per cent of criminal incidents (141) no charges were laid. In the previous 12 months, 15 per cent of incidents resulted in charges being laid (120).

The criminal incident rate for the Southern Grampians remains lower than the overall Victorian rate at 4576.4 per 100,000 population, compared to the entire state’s 5344.6.

This shows a continuing decline in crime in the area when compared to the year ending March 2022 when the criminal incident rate per 100,000 population was 4873.6 compared with the Victorian rate of 5167.8.

The latest statistics for the Shire show the top five locations for criminal incidents were houses, with 283 incidents recorded – up 2 from the year before; followed by street/lane/footpath still in second spot but down to 92 incidents from 134.

In third place and showing a spike was the number of incidents that occurred at the Hamilton Magistrates’ Court for the year – to 34 from 21 the year prior (up 62 per cent).

The fourth most common location was residential front yards, with 24 incidents, up slightly from 21 last year, but a marked increase to 23 incidents in the location category of unit/flat/apartment – up from 14 last year.

The top five towns/areas in the Shire for crime were Hamilton, Coleraine, Penshurst, Dunkeld and Bochara – all showing a decrease in incidents except for Bochara which bumped Cavendish for the fifth spot, up by 5 incidents to 9, from 4 for the previous year.

The top 5 principal offence categories in order were criminal damage, followed by breaching family violence orders, breaching bail conditions, other theft and common assault.

The order of these categories remains unchanged from the year prior, except for common assault which replaced stealing from a motor vehicle due to a massive spike from 25 to 45.

Contributing to the overall decline in criminal incidents, all principal offence categories decreased except for common assaults, and breaching bail conditions which was up by 5 to 64 this year.