BY WILLIAM HUYNH

Victoria has seen the highest number of crimes ever recorded by the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) since it began logging its data in 2004, when it released its latest figures on Thursday.

Surges in theft, violations of COVID-19 restrictions and breaches of family violence orders are largely responsible for the 4.2 per cent crime rate increase.

The number of criminal incidents in the 12 months to June 30 rose by a record 5.6 per cent.

The state experienced the largest upsurge in thefts with 13,284 more thefts reported compared to the same period last year.

An extra 5,994 public health and safety offences were recorded this year, primarily violations of COVID-19 restrictions, meaning there was a 4,720 per cent rise in these types of offences.

Breaches of family violence orders also rose 9.7 per cent. 

Family incidents made up almost 73 per cent of the 68,196 total breach of order offences, with the number of family incidents also increasing by 6.7 per cent.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said COVID-19 restrictions and the pressures of not working, being stuck at home and financial stress were likely to have caused the increase in family incidents.

Operation Ribbon saw increased personnel and resources allocated to combat the rise in family violence during the pandemic.

Dept. Comm. Nugent said the operation had resulted in the charging of “a significant number of people breaching intervention orders”.

The family incident rate has increased by five per cent to 1,315 incidents per 100,000 people. Police are responding to less estranged partner violence and more offending within family households.

“What we have seen more of is first-time reporting,” Dept. Comm. Nugent said.

“We’re also seeing increased incidents involving children and parents, both with children as victims, but sometimes with children as perpetrators.”

Dept. Comm. Nugent said while the curfew may play a role in the greater family incident rate, it has a relatively small impact compared to the overall stay-at-home orders.

The past year has seen a 12.5 per cent increase in serious violent crimes, such as robberies and carjackings. Dept. Comm. Nugent attributed some of this crime to a rise in gang-related behaviour across both metropolitan and rural areas.

Dept. Comm. Nugent announced a new effort to curb gang activity. Operation Alliance will aim to coordinate police across Victoria to “prevent, disrupt and dismantle gangs”.

“In the past, most of our policing efforts on these gangs has been locally,” Dept. Comm. Nugent said.

“What we will have now, is an integrated and coordinated approach to gangs in every region.”

Dept. Comm. Nugent said Victoria Police had observed the growing trend in gang-related offending before the onset of COVID-19.

The increased crime rate has also been attributed to the introduction of the Police Assistance Line and Online Reporting system.

Since its introduction in July last year, the system has processed 16.8 per cent of total recorded offences for the 12-month period. 

“We know a lot of these offences previously would not have been reported,” Dept. Comm. Nugent said.

Dept. Comm. Nugent said he expects to see a decrease in victim-related crime reflected in the data over the COVID-19 lockdown periods.