General News
29 September, 2022
Rise in rural property theft, decline in drug offences stand outs from the past 12 months, say police
Theft from rural properties and offenders travelling across borders to commit crimes are trends local police say are on the rise post-lockdowns, while targeting areas like drug offences has proved successful. The recently released Crime Statistics...
Theft from rural properties and offenders travelling across borders to commit crimes are trends local police say are on the rise post-lockdowns, while targeting areas like drug offences has proved successful.
The recently released Crime Statistics Agency data for the June 2021 to June 2022 period showed criminal offences rose 3.9 percent in the Central Goldfields Shire, with part of that period occuring during government-mandated COVID-19 lockdowns.
It’s the first time offences have risen in the shire in four years, with 1159 offences recorded over the past 12 months.
There were declines in a number of areas, including theft from a motor vehicle which dropped from 52 offences to 43 and criminal damage which decreased from 119 offences down to 99.
Overall, drug offences declined from 106 offences to 53, something Maryborough Police Senior Sergeant Wendy Lambert said is a result of targeted work.
“Drug offences have been on our radar, our Crime Investigation Unit are targeting drug offences like trafficking,” she said.
“We’re also looking at taking that one step further and targeting drug driving. Members are being trained throughout the state in this area, our Highway Patrol members are qualified in this and our uniformed officers will be trained soon.”
There were increases in some offences including breaches of family violence orders which increased from 117 to 174 offences, as did sexual offences which jumped from 39 offences this time last year to 68.
Property offences including burglaries (up 45 to 85) and theft (up 165 to 176) have also risen.
Goldfields Crime Investigation Unit Detective Sergeant Steve Atkinson said COVID-19 has had an impact on local crime.
“Offences in general have probably risen slightly now that we’re out of COVID lockdowns,” he said.
“Crime — particularly property crime like burglaries and theft — definitely dropped significantly because people couldn’t move around, so they couldn’t commit offences.
“Now we’re heading back to business as usual, crime has slightly gone up.
“We won’t get a really good gauge on crime after lockdowns until a bit further down the track.”
Det Sgt Atkinson said stand out offences to local police over the past 12 months include residents evading police directions, cross-border offenders, and rural property crime.
“Offences around evades — where people are failing to stop for police direction — have gone up, that’s a stand out to me and it’s happening everywhere, not just in Maryborough,” he said.
“We do find most of our offenders come from across police service area borders, that’s definitely risen. For example, we get offenders who may have associates in the Maryborough area and come over from Ballarat or Bendigo.
“We’ve also noticed a rise in rural crime, including burglaries on rural premises like farm sheds. Offenders target things like tools and generators. We’ve had incidents where firearms have been stolen from farms. That’s definitely gone up in the last six months. It’s hard to say why that is, it’s probably partly post-lockdowns.”
From September 1, firearm storage laws changed, with Victorians now required to store firearms in a purpose-built, lockable steel storage receptacle with a steel thickness of at least 1.6 mm. Receptacles weighing less than 150 kilograms must also be bolted down.
Det Sgt Atkinson said police will monitor to see if the new laws impact local firearm theft, and that police are actively encouraging rural property owners to install CCTV systems.“We’ll monitor that over the next six to 12 months to see if that does impact firearm theft offending, that’ll be interesting to see,” he said.
“We’re encouraging rural property owners, and especially firearm owners, to install CCTV.
“The systems are now much more affordable. They’re a great deterrent and a great starting point for an investigator if there is a theft because usually being in rural areas, there are no witnesses.”