Whittlesea crime figures down but family violence on the rise By SUE HEWITT July 12, 2013, 10:30 a.m. Crime in the City of Whittlesea has dropped in most categories except family violence, which continues to grow, according to police. Inspector Bob Dykstra said figures for the year ending June30 showed a reduction in such crimes as burglaries, theft of and from cars and drug offences. But he said there was a 14.5 per cent increase in assaults, driven by family violence. “Family violence was up 35 per cent and, given that it makes up 50 per cent of the assault category, domestic assaults were partly responsible for the increase in the number of assaults. “Across the state family violence increased by an average of 21.9 per cent, but in the City of Whittlesea it was up 35 per cent. “The number of family violence incidents where criminal charges were laid increased 59.5 per cent, compared with the state average of 42 per cent.” Inspector Dykstra said the number of repeat offenders – where police were called three or more times in a year – had increased 26 per cent, while the number of court intervention orders had increased 42 per cent. He said police would charge domestic violence offenders with assault because of a zero tolerance to these incidents. He said residential burglaries had dropped 18.8 per cent and other burglaries had decreased 17 per cent, while theft of cars had dropped by 21 per cent and theft from cars by 12.2 per cent. He warned bicycle owners to lock their bikes after a 33 per cent increase in bicycle thefts.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 02:19:46 +0000
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