The state government has hit back at Nationals “political point-scoring” after crime statistics released last week showed a 9.6 per cent drop in offending in the last year.
Data released last week by the Crime Statistics Agency revealed the total amount of crimes against a person, such as assaults, stalking and harassment, dropped by 5.4 per cent – down 118 incidents on the previous year.
The data also revealed property and deception offences like arson, property damage and burglary dropped by 15.4 per cent compared to the previous year ending March.
Despite the latest statistics, Latrobe City remains the local government area with the second highest crime rate in the state, behind Melbourne, with 12,538.7 incidents per 100,000 residents.
Nationals candidate for Morwell Sheridan Bond said “we are less safe under Daniel Andrews, however, member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing described her comments as “scaremongering” and “political point-scoring”.
Ms Bond compared crime statistics over a four-year period from when the Andrews government was elected in 2014.
She said the state government was “failing the fight against crime in the Latrobe Valley” and there had been a 12.5 per cent rise in crime in the region since 2014.
“It’s confirmed what most people already believe, it’s happening in the Latrobe Valley and I really think it’s through a lack of cracking down on crime by the Andrews government,” Ms Bond told The Express on Friday.
“The feedback that I’m getting back from people is that they don’t feel safe in their own communities anymore.”
But Ms Shing said the comments were “light on detail” and the statistics used by Ms Bond did not tell the real story.
“The crime rate is measured by the number of offences per 100,000 people – this is how it was also reported under the last Coalition government,” Ms Shing said.
“Whether or not the Coalition chooses to accept it, we are making progress and I’m looking forward to seeing the crime rate continue to drop in the Valley as more resources and police are deployed.”
There was one more recorded drug incident up on the previous year while weapons and explosives incidents increased by 13.27 per cent in Latrobe.
The total amount of crimes dropped by 9.2 per cent to 9400 incidents to the year ending March.
Across the state, the number of reported criminal incidents dropped by 8.8 per cent from March 2017 to March 2018, while family offences decreased to 75,263 incidents – down by 2454.
Burglary and break and enter incidents also dropped by 13.6 per cent, the same with drug dealing and trafficking (down 10.8 per cent), the data revealed.
Victoria Police Latrobe Acting Inspector Peter Watson said he “was not surprised” to see a reduction in crime but said work still needed to be done to target volume crime such as burglaries and thefts from motor cars.
“We’ve seen a reduction this year but there’s still a demand on our services within our area,” Inspector Watson said.
“Family violence is still our biggest issue, our volume crime is still an issue as well – we still can’t get people to lock their cars no matter how much we try and get the message across – and obviously drugs is a big issue in this rural area.”
Ms Bond said residents were concerned with a sense of “lawlessness” in the community and that a Liberal-Nationals government would introduce mandatory minimum sentencing, more police on the beat, a public sex offenders register and tougher parole on bail laws to “ensure that those who shouldn’t be out on the streets are not on the streets”.
“I don’t think [the Andrews Government] have the right focus, the focus needs to be on harsher penalties and a review of the bail system,” Ms Bond said.
However, Ms Shing said Ms Bond’s position was “so light on detail that it’s impossible to tell what the Coalition would actually do, in real terms, if elected”.
“There is always more work to be done, but we are making progress to turn things around after the crime rates began to increase in 2011,” Ms Shing said.
“The most significant law and order challenge for the Valley and for the state as a whole remains family violence, which makes up 19 per cent of offences – every seven minutes of every hour of every day, police receive a call about a family violence matter in Victoria.
“So it’s also crucial we continue to implement the Royal Commission [into Family Violence’s] recommendations and drive the social change we need to stop the violence, protect victims and survivors and hold perpetrators to account.”
Ms Shing said the government’s $2 billion investment in more than 3000 new police, family violence specialist resources, improved forensic technology and better support was assisting in reducing the crime rate.
