By Casey Neill
Greater Dandenong has the fifth highest crime rate in the state, latest Crime Statistics Agency figures show.
The Police Service Area (PSA) registered a 19 per cent jump in offences in the year to 30 June compared with the previous 12 months, from 17,414 to 20,728.
The figures, released on Thursday 29 September, showed a 13.4 per cent increase in crimes across the state.
The increase per 100,000 people in Greater Dandenong was 16.6 per cent, compared to 11.2 per cent for Victoria.
The highest increase was in Dandenong, at 28.2 per cent, and Noble Park recorded the lowest, at 0.7 per cent.
Springvale South was perhaps the most surprising, recording a 19.8 per cent increase, while Springvale registered a 6.7 per cent jump, and Keysborough 11 per cent.
Southern Metro Region Superintendent Paul Hollowood said any increase in crime was concerning, but it was important to put it in context.
“The rise in assaults and related offences is primarily as a result of an increase in the reporting of family violence incidents,” he said.
“Likewise, family violence has also influenced the rise in stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour offences.”
Figures showed a 64.4 per cent jump in those crimes, from 390 to 641 instances.
Insp Hollowood attributed the 98.3 per cent jump in justice procedures, from 347 to 688, to enforcing family violence breaches “and also the contravention of bail conditions”.
“We continue to encourage an increased reporting of family violence as our area already experiences some of the highest level of family violence in the state,” he said.
Insp Hollowood said thefts of and from cars drove the 42 per cent increase in theft and 19.4 per cent jump in robbery.
He said this was associated with “the youth-networked offending phenomenon that has been impacting all of metropolitan Melbourne”.
“The Southern Metro Region Crime Team continues to focus upon youth-networked offending, having made over 160 arrests since May,” he said.
He said the 53.3 per cent increase in dangerous and negligent acts endangering people, from 159 to 244, resulted from efforts to tackle hoon driving.
“The Regarder Task Force was very successful in identifying and prosecuting the main organisers and participants in this activity that used to occur regularly in Dandenong South,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp also praised Regarder, during a media conference on Thursday 29 September.
He said it led to 54 arrests and the seizure of several vehicles.
