THE Ballarat Police chief has slammed reports that the 3350 postcode has one of the highest crime rates in the state.
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The dataset shows the Ballarat postcode tops the number of offences of car thefts, robbery, assault, sex (non-rape) and home burglary in regional areas over the past four years.
However, Ballarat Police Superintendent Andrew Allen said datasets published in the Herald Sun were “misrepresented” and did not show which offences were decreasing.
He said the raw data was also misrepresented in that it could not be compared to other postcodes with varying populations.
“I think it’s easy to put the stats in as prime hotspots without explanation,” Superintendent Allen said.
“(The dataset) shows an aggregate over four years, but it doesn’t show where we have reduced offences.
“Every number is an aggregate figure and doesn’t take in reductions of solved crimes that have occurred, which in my view
misrepresents the true categories.”
Superintendent Allen said a per 100,000 population dataset was necessary to accurately compare postcodes, in accordance with ABS standards.