By Alesha Capone
Western suburbs train stations are a hot spot for crime, police data has revealed.
Sunshine, Footscray, Newport, Werribee, Williams Landing and St Albans are among Melbourne’s worst suburban train stations for criminal offences.
Sunshine had the second highest number of offences reported for stations outside the city loop. Between October, 2017 and September last year, 168 offences were reported at the station, compared with 168 in the previous 12 months.
Dandenong topped the list with 414 offences (compared to 353 in the previous 12 months). Ringwood was third with 158 crimes (169 previously), Footscray had 127 crimes (139 previously) and Newport had 121 crimes (100 previously).
Werribee was ninth with 86 crimes reported in the 12 month period, compared with 98 previously. Williams Landing was 11th with 79 crimes (40 previously) and St Albans 13th with 75 crimes (37 previously).
Across the rest of the west’s railway stations, Watergardens recorded 57 crimes (59 previously), Laverton 51 (34 previously), Tarneit 48 (66 previously), Melton 43 (46 previously) and Hoppers Crossing 42 (49 previously).
Yarraville, Deer Park, West Footscray and Wyndham Vale stations recorded between 30 to 39 crimes each (compared to 48 previously in Yarraville, 15 in Deer Park, 29 in West Footscray and 17 in Wyndham Vale).
Altona station recorded 28 crimes (27 previously).
The train stations with the least amount of crime in the west were Seaholme and Rockbank, with two crimes each.
Aircraft station recorded four crimes, while North Williamstown, Seddon and Ardeer recorded seven crimes each.
Inspector Jon Woodyatt, from the Transit West Local Area Command, said offences most commonly committed on Melbourne’s public transport network included property damage, behaviour offences, assault, thefts from vehicles and other types of theft.
“In the western suburbs, offending on public transport network is similar, although bicycle theft is also an issue,” he said.
He said that Protective Services Officers, police patrols and extensive CCTV systems were in place across the network to help prevent crime and catch offenders.
