Family violence and ‘cross-border offending’ is on the rise in the Mitchell Shire according to the Crime Statistics Agency’s latest data for 2018.
Theft, assault and breaking and entering incidents have dropped since the previous year of 2017, while breaches of orders have increased.
Mitchell Local Area Commander Peter Koger said property offences such as burglaries in the southern Mitchell shire were a concern.
Mr Koger said police attribute a lot of burglaries to ‘cross-border offending’, which was where an offender came from out of the shire to commit the offence within the Mitchell Shire.
“Burglaries seen with houses under construction have been a result of cross-border offending from people coming up from places like Epping, Craigieburn and Broadmeadows,” Mr Koger said.
Despite a rather stagnant number of drug related offences, Mr Koger said officers have been working hard to stop the movement of drugs.
“We have been working diligently to cut off supply in the area with many warrants and busts on houses,” Commander Kroger said.
“It’s an ongoing issue and a cultural problem that extends to health, police and the justice system.”
He noted that family violence incidents have risen and that was an area that police members were always on watch for.“
Family violence in Wallan, Kilmore and Broadford have gone up a little unfortunately,” he said.
“We’ve got a Family Violence Investigation Unit now in Kilmore who work on serious family violence offending and target persons of interest.”
There has been a rise in property damage in the region as seen with the recent graffiti charges in Broadford – totalling more than $30,000 worth of damages.
In comparison to other regions in Victoria, Mitchell Shire is of moderate concern with a total of 3015 criminal incidents in 2018, slightly less than in 2017, when it was 3060.
Neighbouring municipalities of Macedon recorded 1665 criminal incidents in 2018, while there was 11,815 crimes in Whittlesea last year.
