Ballarat had one of the worst increases in family incidents across the entire state, according to the latest Crime Statistics Agency figures.
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The total number of family incidents in the City of Ballarat increased 42.7 per cent, from 1616 to 2306, compared to 2019.
Ballarat's rate of family incidents, 2068.7 per 100,000 population, was also well above the state average of 1379.7.
Ballarat's numbers were significantly higher than that of other regional centres, with Bendigo and Geelong recording increases of 18.3 per cent and 14.2 per cent, respectively.
In the surrounding local government areas, Hepburn Shire had a 20.5 per cent drop in family incidents while increases were recorded in Golden Plains, 37.5 per cent, Moorabool, 12.6 per cent, and Pyrenees, 20.5 per cent.
The three local government areas that recorded higher increases than Ballarat, Hindmarsh, Queenscliffe and Buloke, each had less than 100 incidents in total last year.
In Ballarat, females were substantially more prominent as affected family members than males, with 1714 females affected by family incidents compared to 591 males.
Meanwhile, males outnumbered females more than two to one as 'other parties', 1661 compared to 642.
People aged 25-34 were most likely to be affected family members or other parties, followed by the 35-44 age group.
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Across the state, family incidents increased 9.4 per cent to 92,521, the highest number on record.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Rick Nugent said the numbers would have been worse without Operation Ribbon.
The police initiative was launched in April, anticipating the added family stresses that the pandemic would cause.
Mr Nugent said with people restricted to their homes during the lockdowns, they might not have access to support.
"As a result we were very, very proactive with Operation Ribbon and other policing activities to ensure we did all we could to keep them safe - and as a result, we did see increases in family violence orders," he said.
Overall criminal incidents in Ballarat decreased by 17.3 per cent in 2020, down to 7383 from 8931 in 2019. However, the city's crime rate of 6623.1 per 100,000 was still about the state average of 6019.7.
Ballarat Central, Wendouree, Sebastopol, Delacombe and Ballarat East were the top five suburbs for crime last year, with stealing from a motor vehicle, criminal damage and other theft among the most common offences.
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