Hume has experienced a 43 per cent hike in gun crime in 12 months, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.
Annual figures released on Thursday show that 72 offences in Hume involved a gun, up from 41 in 2014. It’s just shy of the last peak in gun-related crime in 2012, when 73 offences involving a firearm were recorded.
The latest statistics come just weeks after police executed search warrants across the north west relating to five shootings in Broadmeadows, Dallas and Thomastown, resulting in seven arrests and the seizure of firearms and prohibited weapons.
Overall crime was up 14.9 per cent in Hume last year, with burglaries, theft, drug use and possession and weapons and explosives offences the biggest drivers behind the rise.
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Theft accounted to the greatest number of offences and was up 12.4 per cent to 6517 offences. Offences that fall under the category of theft include motor vehicle theft, stealing from a motor vehicle, theft of a bicycle, stealing from a retail store, fare evasion and receiving or handling stolen goods.
Hume’s burglary and break-and-enter offences were similarly high, with 2186 recorded offences, representing a rise of almost 17 per cent on the 2014 figures.
Hume police’s Acting Inspector Phil Nash said the increase in crime did not come as a surprise.
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“Hume is a fast-growing area and the statistics reflect that growth,” he said.
He said many thefts were opportunistic and involved valuables, such as bikes, garden products and building materials, being left in the open. The north-west metro region again saw the greatest concentration of thefts from motor vehicles, with Hume recording the third-highest number of offences (2387), behind Brimbank (2637) and Moreland (2406).
Whittlesea crime stats
Meanwhile in Whittlesea, overall crime was relatively stable, up just 0.4 per cent on the previous year to 13,938 offences.
The number of offences involving a firearm was down to 34, from a recent high of 40 the previous year.
However, drug use and possession charges rose 35 per cent to 654 offences, while offences for cultivating and manufacturing drugs were up 33 per cent, representing 76 offences.
Mill Park-based Acting Senior Sergeant Chad Garcia said the figures showed that police operations were working.
In 2015, number plate thefts jumped 18.2 per cent across the state. Most of these offences occurred in Melbourne’s north and west – Brimbank (923), Hume (813), Moreland (749), Whittlesea (701) and Darebin (700).
The number of family and domestic violence incidents recorded by police in Hume was up just two per cent, while in Whittlesea, reports rose eight per cent.
The overall crime rate went down, on average, to 6.3 per cent in Thomastown, Lalor and Epping.
