Ballarat's crime rate drops in year ending June 2021

The data shows the total number of offences recorded in Ballarat in the year ending June 2021 has dropped to the lowest since 2012, though it remains above the statewide average per 100,000 population.

There were 8572.5 offences recorded in Ballarat per 100,000 population, according to the latest release, compared to the Victorian rate of 7823.3.

Acting Superintendent Paul Bertoncello said Ballarat represented about 75 per cent of the total crime in the division, which also includes Pyrenees, Hepburn, Moorabool and Golden Plains.

The total number of offences recorded in Ballarat was a decrease of 14 per cent from the previous year, in addition to decreases of offences recorded across the whole division.

Acting Superintendent Bertoncello said police set their divisional priorities for the year ahead at the start of the reporting cycle and they had "made great gains in those areas".

The most offences recorded were stealing from a motor vehicle, motor vehicle theft, criminal damage, theft and stealing from a retail store though all of these offences declined significantly.

Two of the biggest declines in the Ballarat police service area (Ballarat and Pyrenees) were stealing from a motor vehicle, which dropped by 29 per cent (1644 last year to 1162 this year), and theft of a motor vehicle, which declined by 39 per cent (from 715 this time last year to 430 this year). 'Other theft' also declined by 30 per cent.

READ MORE: How many COVID breaches have there been in the Ballarat region?

Acting Superintendent Bertoncello said there was a big spike in offending relating to vehicles at the start of 2020.

"For every car that was being stolen there were up to 10 offences being committed around that theft - from breaking into a house to steal the keys to stealing the car itself."

A National Community Survey on the perceptions of community safety revealed that just over 60 per cent of people in the division were worried about car theft.

"We see that the messages are finally getting through from all the community engagement we've done over the past 12 months.

"While ordinarily we wouldn't be happy about people being worried about it, we are pleased to see that a lot of our proactive work and communication through The Courier and other media seems to be starting to hit home with people.

"... That they do need to lock their doors and their cars. As a result of those efforts of the community and us, it has impacted vehicle crime and seen it decrease quite significantly."

Aggravated and non-aggravated burglaries, robberies and arson offences also declined, as did dangerous driving offences.

Deception offences, such as forgery and counterfeiting, also decreased, as did drug offences.

However, family violence incidents increased from 1760 per 100,000 population last year to 2090 this year - an increase of 18 per cent.

Affected family members were largely aged between 25 and 34, with the vast majority females.

While there was a decrease in serious family violence offences, harassment and stalking, common assault offences increased by nine per cent and threatening behaviour increased from 57 offences to 73.

The biggest reason behind the increase in incidents relates to breaches of family violence orders. They reached the highest number since 2012- there were 1107 offences last year, which jumped to 1268 recorded this year.

Acting Superintendent Bertoncello said the increase in family violence reports was, in fact, positive.

"We are seeing a lot more charges related to breaches of intervention orders, breaches of interim intervention orders and breaches of family violence safety notices."

He explained these orders were activated at the first report of family violence.

"We have been focusing on the breaches that might happen the first or second time after an order has been put in place," he said.

"This is part of our focus on trying to prevent the high harm that might come from multiple and escalating incidents of family violence incidents in a relationship, with assaults and serious offending like stalking that can escalate up to homicide."

He said this approach was resulting in higher reported offences, but decreased harm.

Meanwhile in the Moorabool police service area - Moorabool, Hepburn and Golden Plains - burglaries and robberies, theft, criminal damage, theft of and stealing from a motor vehicle also decreased.

However, drugs, firearms, sexual offences and breaching family violence orders increased.

CSA Chief Statistician, Fiona Dowsley, said: "the decreases in the key crime measures, recorded offences, criminal incidents and victim reports, have coincided with COVID-19-related restrictions on movement.

"The volume decrease during this time has been observed largely in the acquisitive and more opportunistic crime types such as thefts.

"Conversely there have been increases in breaches of orders including family violence orders and Chief Health Officer directions. As a result, we continue to record higher numbers of alleged offenders in the last 12 months."

Acting Superintendent Bertoncello thanked the community for their assistance in stopping the spread of the virus by adhering to restrictions.

"100,000 pairs of eyes and ears are far more than our 400 pairs of eyes and ears. That's the only way we will drive crime rates down - to work with the community."

He added police, like everybody else, were looking forward to eased restrictions. When that happens they will be able to assess strategies pre and post COVID to understand how community harm had shifted.

"There's clearly a COVID effect across the state with more people at home. There's less movement.

"When we can get back to a more stable footing we will take the best of what's changed in the past 12-15 months and the best of how we used to do things and introduce some new initiatives and start really working with the community to drive our really good results down even further."

But he said community and police working together to maintain the low crime rate would be essential when restrictions ease and there is more movement among the community.

"What's really important is that we don't rest on our laurels, we keep the changes people have made in locking cars and securing their possessions - we want people to keep those behaviours so we can leverage off that and start focusing on other things.

"The way all of that works is if the community sees something and says something we can work through our processes and investigate it. We'll keep working together and keep trying to make things better for everybody."

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