Tara Murray
Brimbank police will continue to target key offences after crime fell slightly in the municipality in 2022 according to new data released last week.
The latest Crime Statistics Agency data revealed there were 16,761 offences in the 12 months to December 2022, down from 16,998 at the same time the previous year. It was a decrease of 1.4 per cent.
Brimbank Inspector Trevor King said it was good to see the number of offences drop.
“There is always a bit of fluctuation for a number of factors,” he said. “It’s good to see 230 less offences in that period.
“There’s a continued premise of police and the community invested in their surrounds. There’s more work to be done.”
Despite a decrease, stealing from a motor vehicle remained the most popular crime in Brimbank with 2029 offences recorded.
King said that the community could play a role in helping reduce the number of offences.
“We’re really mindful and want to remind the community to take a bit of responsibility,” he said.
“A high number of these are people have unlocked vehicles or left items in clear side. A lot are opportunistic thefts.”
St Albans remains the top suburb for offences recording, despite dropping for a second straight year.
There were 3895 offences in St Albans, down from 4160 in the previous 12 months.
King said the work the safer community taskforce was doing around the Alfrieda Street and Errington Reserve precinct, had resulted in significant improvement in that area.
Another area King said they had seen improvement in was a drop in youth crime, despite it being up across the state. He said they were seeing the benefits of a youth crime early intervention program.
Nearly a third of all offences in 2022 occurred in the house.
King said that was an area they would look to target in 2023 with 90 per cent of aggravated burglaries occurring in properties left open or unlocked.
Assaults, increased patrols at transport hubs and youth crime are other areas they will continue to focus on.
Family violence incidents increased slightly with 21 more incidents than the previous 12 months.
There were 2807 incidents in Brimbank in 2022.
King said it was good to see there hadn’t been a substantial increase despite the stressful environment many people are experiencing.
