THEFT from motor vehicles has once again been the top offence recorded in Ballarat, according to the latest crime statistics.
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Released by the Crime Statistics Agency on Thursday morning, the latest data reveals that crime offences have once again increased in Ballarat in the year ending March 2020.
In the year ending March 2019, the offence rate per 100,000 population was 9926.5 offences. However, in the year ending March 2020, the offence rate per 100,000 population increased to 10,373.8 offences.
This is an increase of 4.51 per cent.
The top five offence subgroups were stealing from a motor vehicle, 'other' theft, breaching a family violence order, criminal damage and motor vehicle theft.
Stealing from a motor vehicle increased by 41 per cent.
Related coverage: What was Ballarat's biggest crime problem in 2019?
Related coverage: Huge surge in theft offences in Ballarat in the past year
Theft of a motor vehicle, meanwhile, increased by 48 per cent.
In addition, 'other theft' which includes petrol theft and the theft of trailers, also increased by 27 per cent - from 740.6 offences to 942.8.
Superintendent Jenny Wilson said police had responded to a spike in vehicle crimes from the end of last year until the start of this year.
She said this spike could be attributed to a group of known recidivist offenders, predominantly aged under 25, who had previously been arrested and charged in relation to vehicle related offences.
Often offenders commit a variety of linked offences, such as committing an aggravated burglary, stealing a vehicle and then petrol, while often the crime spree will end in the arson of a stolen vehicle.
Superintendent Wilson said given the trend in recidivist offending, in the last six months police had been making a concerted effort to try a new approach.
Rather than focusing on individual offences, police have been focusing on the people who are known to continually re-offend in certain crime categories.
"It's something we have really focused on and is really turning our crime around," she said.
Superintendent Wilson said while policing had historically been reactive, police were now trying to work more proactively to adapt and learn about crime trends so to catch offenders before the community is significantly impacted.
"That's really our focus now in our crime units - how do we get ahead of it, so that the damage and the impact isn't as high?
"And that's changing policing because policing has been very reactive over the years and we've waited for the crime to be committed and then we've tried to identify the offender and then catch them."
Now, police are focusing on the people who commit the offences to increase community safety.
"These offenders cause high harm and have a high impact on the community and we have zero tolerance for it. We are trying to get them out of the community to ensure we are maintaining community safety," Superintendent Wilson said.
These offenders cause high harm and have a high impact on the community and we have zero tolerance for it. We are trying to get them out of the community to ensure we are maintaining community safety.
- Superintendent Jenny Wilson
Since late last year, Superintendent Wilson said police had arrested about 120 volume offenders, some multiple times, so she expected to see a significant decrease in the next round of statistics released.
Due to the significant proportion of offenders being youth, police have been working closely with partner agencies to divert young people away from committing crimes and towards education and other activities to assist them in finding and following a better pathway.
Internally, police have a youth strategy and a dedicated team whose focus is to work with youth.
Another recent trend police have been responding to is cross border offending, with offenders travelling from surrounding areas such as Geelong, Melbourne and Bendigo to commit crimes and vice versa.
Meanwhile, while still represented in the top five offence subgroups, breaching of a family violence order and criminal damage offences decreased from the previous year.
The statistics reveal that in the year to March 2020, before restrictions were put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus, the total number of family violence incidents in Ballarat decreased by 8.4 per cent - from 1863 the previous year to 1706.
Recently police revealed that during the lockdown period, family violence reports increased from across the region.
Related coverage: Influx of family violence reports during coronavirus lockdown period
Related coverage: Crime rate falls with COVID-19 restrictions in place
The top five suburbs overall crime offences were recorded were in Ballarat Central, Wendouree, Sebastopol, Ballarat East and Delacombe.
Of the total offences recorded during this period, 43.2 per cent resulted in arrest or summons while 47 per cent were unsolved. Five per cent were recorded with an intent to summons status. The further five per cent were listed with an investigation status of 'other'.
In nearby local government areas serviced by the region's police, offences recorded in Golden Plains, Moorabool and Pyrenees shires decreased.
However, offences recorded increased in Hepburn, with Creswick and Daylesford the towns with the most offences recorded.
In May, police revealed that overall criminal offences had reduced significantly during the lockdown period, though these results will not be released until later this year.
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