Postcode 3064 witnessed the most crime in Hume and Whittlesea last year, according to the latest figures from the Crime Statistics Agency.
The yearly figures, which were released on Thursday, show that overall crime was up 20.7 per cent in suburbs with the 3064 postcode, which takes in Donnybrook, Kalkallo, Craigieburn, Mickleham and Roxburgh Park.
There were 5516 offences recorded in those suburbs in 2015, up from 4571 in the previous year.
Greenvale residents were also subjected to more crime last year. Overall crime in the suburb was up by more than 20 per cent to 656 offences.
Meanwhile overall crime in Hume was up by 14.9 per cent to 20,536 offences; the greatest number of offences recorded in any region in the metro north west, which takes in 14 local government areas.
Acting Hume Inspector Phil Nash said the staggering population growth in Craigieburn and Greenvale accounts for the rise in criminality in those suburbs.
“The growth in Craigieburn and Greenvale has skyrocketed.”
“Hume is a fast growing area and the statistics are just reflective of that growth,” he said.
The number of offences recorded in Broadmeadows, Dallas, Jacana and Upfield, which share the 3047 postcode, rose by 13.3 per cent last year to 4627.
Bundoora recorded 17.5 per cent more offences last year, to 2491.
Crime in Doreen and Mernda rose by 11.1 per cent to 1963 offences.
While in Lalor, South Morang, Thomastown and Epping, the number of offences police recorded dropped by between 3.8 per cent and 9.6 per cent.
Acting Whittlesea Inspector Mark Smith said police in the metro north west division 5 had focused on family violence, volume crime such as burglaries and theft from cars and vehicle crime.
“Theft is something we put a lot of effort into,” he said. “If that goes up, it suggests we’re catching more people.”
The overall crime rate in Whittlesea remained relatively stable last year, recording a rise of 0.4 per cent.
Acting Inspector Smith described the figure as “not too bad a result.”
“We’d love to see a decrease but I think it’s a pretty good result considering we’ve seen a population increase of almost 11,000 people, so there’s going to be a increase in crime reflective of that growth,” he said.
