By Laura Michell
Crime in Whittlesea and Hume is at its lowest rate in three years, driven by drops in burglaries and thefts.
Latest Crime Statistics Agency data reveals that in the 12 months to June, there were 21,930 offences recorded in Hume, down 8 per cent from June 2017.
Burglaries fell 12 per cent, with thefts dropping 10 per cent.
There were 15,404 offences recorded in Whittlesea, down 4.5 per cent, with the number of burglaries recorded dropping by 27 per cent. Thefts fell by 9 per cent.
Across the state, the crime rate fell by 7 per cent, led by a decline in burglaries.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said across the state, residential burglaries were at the lowest level in years.
“This is a significant achievement. Whilst we acknowledge that even one crime is one crime too many, these kind of results are a validation we are heading in the right direction,” he said.
Whittlesea Inspector Andrew Falconer said he was pleased by the reduction in crime.
He said Whittlesea police ran a number of operations targeting vehicle crimes and burglaries, including a recent operation by uniform police at night. That operation, which took place in June, resulted in 31 arrests.
Inspector Falconer also highlighted a reduction in robberies, which fell 6 per cent to 78 offences in the year to June. He said the recent addition of more detectives to the crime unit had led to the arrest of several people responsible for robberies in the area.
But he said assaults remained a concern for police, with assault-related offences rising 20 per cent to 1594 offences.
“There is still obviously a concern over family violence, which we are seeing in our assault statistics,” he said.
“We will be focusing on road rage in the next quarter. We do think there is a link between road rage and assault offences.”
