Crime reports buck state trend

RECORDED crime in Loddon communities is at its second lowest level in seven years, according to statistics released last week.

There has been a 9.2 per cent drop in crime in the 12 months to March, going against the statewide average increase of 3.5 per cent.

Wedderburn had 71 of the 463 reported crimes in local communities for the year. There were 60 reports in Inglewood, 44 at Pyramid Hill, 28 at Calivil and 23 at Bridgewater.

Crime Statistics Agency said arrests or summons had been issued in 47.1 per cent of incidents while 36.7 per cent remained unsolved.

Criminal incidents dropped by 11.9 per cent with 341 matters listed. There were 46 in Wedderburn followed by Inglewood 51, Pyramid Hill 24, Bridgewater 20 and Boort 16 - almost one third were theft and burglary.

There were 17 service station incidents for the year.

There was a 17.7 per cent drop in reported family violence incidents - 107 for the year ending March compared with 130 for the previous year.

The family violence figure was the Loddon’s lowest since the first year of the pandemic in 2020 and lower than 2019.

Crime Statistics Agency said the rate of recorded offences increased, up 3.5 per cent to 7349.1 per 100,000 Victorians in the last 12 months, while the number of offences increased 5.6 per cent to 496,589.

“All offence categories increased in the last 12 months, except for category F Other Offences related to Breach of Chief Health Officer offences, which had been recorded at higher lev- els during the first two years of the pandemic.

“Offences not related to family violence drove the increase up 6.4 per cent or 23,030 offences to 384,018, while family violence related offences increased 3.1 per cent or 3394 offences to 112,571.”

The agency said that in the 12 months to March, the number of criminal incidents increased, up 5.6 per cent or 19,042 to 361,140 incidents.

The rate also increased, up 3.4 per cent to 5344.6 per 100,000 Victorians.

Alleged offender incidents increased 10.5 per cent to 166,666 in the last 12 months, as did the rate up 8.1 per cent to 2795 per 100,000.

The majority of the age groups increased in the last 12 months, the only age groups to decrease were 18-19 years and 20-24