One-hundred extra police in Brimbank and Melton have been given the credit for a mammoth 11 per cent drop in crime.
Figures from the newly-formed Crime Statistics Agency reveal that 17,304 crimes were committed in Brimbank in 2014 – down 11.2 per cent on 2013.
But the city still had the fifth-highest number of offences across the state and the third-highest number of motor vehicle thefts.
Meanwhile, family violence incidents have jumped from 2054 recorded incidents in 2013 to 2245 in 2014.
Inspector Chris Gilbert said robberies had dropped 42 per cent from 314 to 181 and there had also been falls in burglary arson and property damage.
He said the 100 extra police deployed in Brimbank and Melton in recent years had meant a focus on recidivist offenders and an increased police presence on the streets, all of it contributing to the fall in crime.
“It’s a big drop for us, and that’s on the back of reductions from the previous year as well,” Inspector Gilbert said.
“We’re delivering a really robust service in Brimbank at the moment. We think we’re doing a really good job in identifying what’s hurting the community and acting on that. It sometimes won’t look like that because of those bigger crimes you have from time to time,” Inspector Gilbert said.
“But at the end of the day we’ve been able to impact on safety over a couple of years and we’re pretty confident we’re still on track to maintaining reasonable levels through this year.
”We’re very, very focused on prevention, rather than cure. The more work we can do to prevent crime – whether it’s through visibility, the way we deploy or community- strengthening exercises – the less crime we’ll see over time.”
Inspector Gilbert said police would continue to focus on family violence, deception – particularly the use of tap-and-go cards by thieves – and theft of, and from, motor vehicles.
“We have reductions in our property crime, but at the end of the day that number would drop significantly again if we were able to get people to take that little bit more care with their personal property,” he said.
