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www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
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OUR O UR F FIRST IRST YEAR 2022 A TOTAL of 321 Prep/Foundation students have started their schooling across the 21 primary schools within the Rural City of Wangaratta in 2022. Among them are Yarrunga Primary School preps Kaden Hines (left) and Bruce Smithson, who just love their outdoor playground. Our annual lift-out Prep Photo feature is inside today’s edition pages 11 to 26 - with 19 of the 21 schools happy to share the start of their students’ educational journey. PHOTO: Kurtis Hickling
Still a concern Familyy violence in rural cityy under microscope p
By RYAN MALCOLM
POLICE are continuing to hunt down perpetrators, as part of a concerted effort to stem the incidence of family violence and intimidationrelated offences in the rural city. Latest crime data for the Wangaratta local government area saw the region record a 1.1 per cent
increase in family violence offences last calendar year, following a 20 per cent increase the previous year. Some 632 instances of family violence were recorded for the region, accounting for an incidence rate of 2164.3 per 100,000 population, well above the state rate of 1364.7.
It’s a trend which Wangaratta region Superintendent Joy Arbuthnot believes needs to be continually addressed. “While we saw a slight increase in overall family violence cases in the last 12 months, it’s really heartening to see that the
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increase has dramatically slowed compared to the previous reporting period,” she said. “However, one case of family violence is one too many and police are absolutely committed to hunting down perpetrators and holding them to account.
“Teams of detectives and uniform officers are turning up on the doorsteps of known family violence perpetrators on a daily basis, putting them on notice and reminding them that any breach of an intervention order will land them in court. “This proactive police
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work has been a key driver behind the number of family violence order breaches recorded over the last year - police are making it easier for victims of family violence to report these breaches, preventing more serious offending from occurring, which has decreased across the board.” ■ Continued page 2
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