Figures released yesterday revealed overall crime in Ballarat jumped by 7.6 per cent in 2009, with the most substantial rises coming in the areas of theft from cars (up 30.6 per cent) and theft of cars (up 63.3 per cent).

While the city's well- documented police focus on public order offences led to a 10.7 per cent fall in crimes against the person, Mr Overland said during a visit to Ballarat yesterday that the overall rate

was "not satisfactory".

"Ballarat has the same issue a lot of other areas have got, with concerns with alcohol-related violence and the same challenges, but with where the crime rate is at, it's not satisfactory," he said.

"Property crime is up and the volume of crime such as burglary and robbery is up, and we are about to call them (Ballarat management) down with a number of other police service areas, where Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones will be talking about the volume of crime because there are obviously some things here we need to get on top of."

Mr Overland said he could not comment on what had driven the rise in Ballarat.

"What's behind it is not my job, it's the job of the local police to get on top of those issues and given they are obviously not, we will come along to give them some help," he said.

"Crime against the person fell so they have been doing well on that front, but there has been an escalation in the last couple months that we need to look at."

Targeting the number of car-related thefts , Ballarat Police Inspector Pat Cleary said a task force had achieved outstanding results.

He said so far, Operation Twinge had charged 125 people with 1025 offences within four months.