By Matthew Sims
Criminal offences jumped by 13.3 per cent in the year to March 2024 across Cardinia to 7641 offences, according to the latest figures from the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA).
The figures for the period from March 2023 to March 2024 highlighted a 27.5 per cent increase in theft offences recorded across the Cardinia LGA and a 21.6 per cent increase in drug dealing and trafficking offences recorded.
In terms of the number of alleged young offenders across Cardinia, the number of alleged offenders during the year to March 2024 aged between 10 and 17 fell by 15 per cent compared to the year ending March 2023, while the number of alleged offenders aged between 18 and 24 rose by 8.6 per cent.
The predominant offender age group for Cardinia is 25 – 34, with this age group double any other age group.
Pakenham topped the list of offences recorded across Cardinia with a total of 4343 offences recorded, which was a 12.2 per cent increase compared to the year to March 2023.
Significant increases included theft increasing from 1009 offences to 1319 offences (up 30.2 per cent), drug dealing and trafficking jumping from 19 to 29 offences (52.6 per cent) and weapons and explosives offences jumping from 120 to 147 offences (up 22.5 per cent).
However, a number of offence types saw a decrease in reports, including in property damage falling from 376 to 346 (down eight per cent) and robbery offences decreasing slightly from 27 to 24 offences (down 11.1 per cent).
“Cardinia is an overwhelmingly safe place to live. When comparing the crime rate as an average against 100,000 population, with Cardinia sits well under the state average for criminal incidents,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
“The average rate of criminal incidents in Victoria per 100,000 people is 5686.4, while the average rate of criminal incidents in Cardinia per 100,000 people is 3973.6.
“Crimes relating to theft – including petrol drive offs and theft of number plates – have increased, as well as opportunistic thieves taking advantage of unlocked houses and vehicles.
“When arrested, offenders are telling us they will walk up and down a street until they find a home or car that is unlocked. Given this, police have one simple message – please take simple home security measures such as locking all windows and doors as we know it dramatically reduces the chance of a burglary taking place.
“Police intelligence shows more than half of all vehicles that are stolen right across Victoria are stolen from public places, like carparks at shopping centres or train stations.”
According to Victoria Police, the increase in reported crime is not out of proportion to the population growth, and in many crime categories, reported crime is under pre-pandemic figures.
Nearly 80 per cent of reported crime in Cardinia occurs in the main growth corridor that straddles the Princess Highway between Beaconsfield and Officer. The remaining reported crime occurs predominantly in the more densely populated areas of satellite towns that are spread across Cardinia.
To help tackle crime, council has provided police with two CCTV trailers and through strategic deployments, they have significantly contributed to reducing or maintaining the levels of reported crime in public locations.
Police also engage with the community across all of Cardinia, formally and informally, at Coffee with a Cop, community events, public forums and meetings.
A focus of Cardinia Police is to link in with other agencies to enhance support services and assistance to young people and their families.
This includes a dedicated Youth Resource Officer working out of Pakenham Police Station, regular engagement with Cardinia Council, primary and secondary schools, and engagement/partnerships with external agencies, such as the Blue Edge Program, which runs in senior colleges.
Police also highlighted that while where you keep your car keys and other valuables within your own home is your own decision, they police recommend keeping these items away from windows where they may be visible to opportunistic thieves.
This includes:
-not leaving valuables in your vehicle,
-locking your vehicle,
-not parking your vehicle in dark or remote areas,
-taking advantage of the free one-way number plate screws available at all police stations across Cardinia,
-locking your house (including windows and garden sheds),
-not leaving tools lying around,
-installing/maintaining CCTV cameras
-installing sensor lights.
The figures also highlighted motor vehicle thefts surged in Casey in the year leading up to March 2024.
The number of motor vehicle thefts jumped from 896 to 1118, an increase of 24.8 per cent.
Thefts from motor vehicles have soared by 44.4 per cent, recording a total of 3101.
Residential aggravated burglaries have remained flat over the past year.
Non-residential non-aggravated burglaries, on the other hand, have increased by 26.3 per cent from 407 to 514.
The number of drug trafficking has doubled from 105 to 212.
Overall, the total offences recorded in Casey have seen an increase of 10.7 per cent.
Cranbourne topped the chart with 3178 offences recorded, followed by Narre Warren with 3018, Berwick with 2715, Clyde North with 1709, and Hampton Park with 1699.
Across the state, the number of offences increased by 7.9 per cent to 535,673 offences, with theft among the largest jumps, rising by 17 per cent to 181,665 offences.
