Youth crime a focus for police

Crime in Baw Baw is continuing to decline but youth crime remains a focus area for local police.

There have been 3.7 per cent fewer criminal incidents recorded in Baw Baw police services area for the year ending June 30, compared to the previous 12 month period.

The local decline was higher than the state-wide trend which saw a 10 per cent decrease in criminal offences across Victoria.

The new data, released by the Crime Statistics Agency revealed an increase in non-family violence and assault in Baw Baw, from 82 incidents recorded last year to 116 this year. Other increases included shoplifting, moving from 84 incidents to 112 and graffiti - increasing from nine to 20 incidents.

Incidents falling into the ‘other thefts’ category have also increased from 198 incidents to 228.

Baw Baw police service area inspector Alison Crombie said youth crime was a continuing concern for local police.

She said the increase in non-family violence assault was “disturbing” and could be related to young boys and girls in the region attacking their peers.

Youth crime is also having an impact on robbery numbers, Insp Crombie said, with young people stealing items like phones and shoes from people their own age.

This trend has continued throughout the year, and police are currently running another school holiday operation in local central business districts to target thefts and anti-social behaviour. The operation includes high visibility foot patrols around high-traffic areas like fast food outlets, shops and public transport hubs.

Residential aggravated burglaries, increased from 19 criminal incidents last year to 22. This mirrors state-wide averages, which experienced an increase of 309 residential aggravated burglaries year-onyear which was attributed to the likelihood of more people working from home or sickness during COVID.

Insp Crombie said people needed to be aware that criminals were becoming “bolder” and will enter through unlocked doors to steal valuables like car keys and credit cards.

She suggested community members securely lock their homes before going to bed.

“It never hurts to install CCTV,” she added - recommending cameras with high resolution.

Baw Baw also is experiencing decreases in family violence serious assaults and breaches of family violence orders - decreasing from 116 incidents to 87, and 343 incidents to 282, respectively.

This also is in line with a state-wide trend. Victoria experienced an overall 3.1 per cent reduction in family violence incidents, and a 6.6 per cent decrease in family violence orders breached.

Insp Crombie said the reduced figures were an indication of the “hard work” done by family violence units.

In comparison to nearby regions, Baw Baw has recorded fewer criminal incidents than most, with 2958 incidents up to June. East Gippsland recorded 3654 incidents, Latrobe 7651, Bass Coast, 2137 and Cardinia 4531 incidents.

Of Warragul, Drouin, Trafalgar, Longwarry and Yarragon, Longwarry was the only area to record an increase in criminal incidents, from 183 to 185.

Baw Baw sits in the medium range for the number of offences recorded per 100,000 of population with 7023 offences.

Other Gippsland municipalities’ crime rates per 100,000 population were: South Gippsland 5554, Cardinia 5128, Bass Coast 7066, Wellington 9431, East Gippsland 10,026 and Latrobe 13,893.

Baw Baw also has recorded the least number of victim reports (1518) since 2017 when there were 1421 and compared to last year’s 1632.