By Casey Neill
Criminals commit about five burglaries in Greater Dandenong every day, latest figures show.
But Southern Metro Region Division Three Superintendent Paul Hollowood said crime in the municipality was actually down 1.5 per cent since 1 July.
The Crime Statistics Agency released data for the year ending 30 September on Thursday 15 December.
Greater Dandenong had the state’s fifth highest offence rate per 100,000 residents with just over 13,079, after the Melbourne, Latrobe, Yarra and Horsham police service areas.
The figure was up 5.8 per cent on the previous 12 months, below the state’s 9.4 per cent rise.
The statistics showed that crime overall increased 8 per cent in Greater Dandenong from 30 September 2015 to 30 September this year, from 18,885 offences to 20,392.
This was below the state-wide 11.6 per cent increase.
Burglaries increased 19.2 per cent from 1616 to 1927, which was above the state-wide 13.7 per cent rise.
There were 216 robberies in Greater Dandenong in the year to 30 September, up from 161 the previous year, which was just over four each week.
The 34.2 per cent jump was also above the state-wide 21.5 per cent increase.
“Whilst robbery is up by 34 per cent it relates to a small number of offences, for example last week in Greater Dandenong there was only one reported robbery offence,” he said.
“This similarly occurs with offences such as stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour (up 54 per cent from 402 to 619).
“They are off a low base of offending but also primarily relate to family violence incidents, which we seek to have increased reporting of by the community.”
Greater Dandenong’s 73.2 per cent increase in justice procedures was in line with the state increase and Insp Hollowood said the figure primarily related to compliance with family violence intervention orders and bail-related offences.
Drug dealing and trafficking, and drug cultivating or manufacture offences both dropped significantly in Greater Dandenong – by 22.4 per cent and 32.1 per cent respectively.
“Drug trafficking, manufacture and cultivation offence recording reflect police activity in this area rather than the prevalence of the crime,” Insp Hollowood said.
“At the present time we are undertaking a record high number of police investigations into drug trafficking activity as a result of the establishment of the Divisional Response Unit at Dandenong.
“However this does not translate into the crime data until arrests are made.”
Insp Hollowood said vehicle crime remained a primary concern, with most vehicles being stolen with their keys.
“Registration number plates and personal belongings still feature as the main item in respect of theft from motor vehicles,” he said.
“There is an increased level of police presence on the street by the new Frontline Tactical Unit at Dandenong, who are increasing the number of arrests in respect of offences that they detect whilst patrolling.”
