Tasking and coordination Inspector Paul Bertoncello for Western Region division 3 - encompassing Ballarat, Moorabool, Hepburn, Golden Plains and Pyrenees - said the priorities were decided each year based on the biggest causes of community harm.

"Our overall focus is community safety because that is what police exist for," he said.

"So we look at the biggest known impacts and the potential biggest impacts on community safety and what can be done to address them. It's a constant cycle of review and revision."

While the priorities have been nominated in an effort to improve community safety and all police will undertake actions in relation to them, it does not mean that other issues will be cast aside.

Road trauma is consistently the biggest harm to the community across Victoria as well as across the region.

While it is a significant improvement from the previous year, in the year 2019-20 there were 10 deaths and 158 serious injuries across the division.

"Reducing road trauma is a definite priority, but also exploring why it is occurring, when it is occurring and how," Inspector Bertoncello said.

Reducing road trauma is consistently a priority, though how police strategically and operationally address it changes each year.

Interestingly, the majority of the fatality and serious injury collisions in the last year occurred in optimal driving conditions - in clear weather during the day and on sealed, dry roads.

In addition to this, driver error is a major contributor to the collisions across the division, with driver distraction and inattention, alcohol and illicit drug use and speeding all featured heavily in the statistics, suggesting a level of driver complacency.

A huge driver of the crime rate across the division - estimated to be about 30 per cent, though it is likely higher - is linked to vehicle-centric offending.

In the last year, there were 225 aggravated burglaries. Shockingly, in almost 79 per cent of these aggravated burglaries in which vehicles were the target, the offender was able to enter the home through an unlocked door or by using keys or a garage remote located in an unlocked car.

"It's huge - if that were reduced even by half, our crime rate in relation to vehicle-centric offending would decrease dramatically," Inspector Bertoncello said.

Often these stolen vehicles are used to commit other crimes such as petrol theft or driving offences and frequently end in the arson of the vehicle.

"For up to ten offences to be associated with one theft from the aggravated burglary means that the crime rate increases from one behaviour," Inspector Bertoncello said.

"So by linking them together and focusing on who's doing it, why and what is enabling it, we can reduce the crime rate significantly."

Vehicle-centric offending is mostly opportunistic, with offenders known to attempt to access multiple homes or vehicles until they find one that is an easy target.

In the last year there were almost 900 vehicles stolen in addition to almost 2000 thefts from vehicles, including almost 800 number plate thefts.

The vast majority of offenders processed for vehicle crimes are youth.

Youth, aged between 10 and 24, are a key vulnerable group within the community - both as victims and offenders, though often they can be both.

Youth represented 18 per cent of victims across the division in the last year, including 86 young women who were victims of family members or partners.

On the flip side, youth also represent 30 per cent of offenders, with youth charged with 16 per cent of the offences committed in the division.

Inspector Bertoncello said a high rate of the youth offenders were also victims of crimes such as sexual exploitation, with many of their situations making them vulnerable to abuse or assault.

"It is a really high priority for us to work in that prevention area to reduce victimisation," he said.

For police, it is abundantly clear that it is wider than a policing issue.

Police will undertake proactive engagement and work more closely with stakeholders such as the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of education, local government and community this year, in order to reduce the vulnerability of youth and their 'life concerns', as well as to work with those who are already in the justice system.

With about 20 per cent of offenders across the division known to police and committing the vast majority of crime, police will take a more proactive approach to investigate and prevent offending.

This will involve engaging with offenders upon release and about compliance with bail, as well as working proactively with other agencies to support the largely vulnerable - in terms of unemployment, mental illness or drug dependence - group of people to prevent crime.

"There's a lot of work that will be done this year to speed up some of our processes so that as soon as something comes on our radar, we'll be responding to it as soon as possible," Inspector Bertoncello said.

This will be done through a more rapid service of orders and execution of warrants, prioritising quick responses to investigations to gather evidence and process offenders before a 'mini crime spree' turns into a long-term crime spree and using appropriate legislation such as firearm prohibition notices and road policing enforcement.

Ultimately, the focus will be on understanding the behaviours of people of interest, their needs and "working as hard as possible to deter crime", Inspector Bertoncello said.

These four priorities will be the "pillars that form the policing response" during the next year, Inspector Bertoncello said, with the ultimate goal to reduce the crime rate and increase community safety.

"We have always addressed [these priorities], but we are really putting the spotlight on them so that everybody in the division is working in the same direction," he said.

"There's a lot of strategic work going on this year that will be about getting the foundations in place to really build on over the next couple of years."

In order to achieve these goals, police will undertake operational initiatives, including to increase community engagement by communicating key messages.

With complacency a key contributor to road trauma and vehicle-centric offending, police need the support of the community to change behaviours to assist with reducing crime.

Police will also work closer with other agencies to support individuals and families known to both police and support agencies to reduce the likelihood of crimes being committed.

But community support is needed to create better pathways for at-risk youth, who need employment and support.

"We're here for the community but we need them, just as much if not more."

Inspector Bertoncello said every police member working across the division would be working on something in relation to the priorities every single day.

"Whether that is on the street, one-on-one contact with offenders, in meetings with stakeholders or proactive engagement with people... Whether it's prosecutors, whether it's detectives, or inspectors - we'll all be focusing our efforts on these priorities in order to achieve community safety."

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