Elsie Lange
The overall crime rate in Sunbury has declined nearly 19 per cent on last year, and is now at its lowest point in almost a decade in the year ending September.
In the Macedon Ranges, offences recorded for the year ending September 2022 were down 12.8 per cent compared to the year prior.
Crime Statistics Agency data, released last week, shows the rate of recorded offences decreased 4.3 per cent from the same 12-month period in 2021.
Victoria Police said this drop represented the lowest number of criminal offences committed in the year ending September since 2014.
Hume Inspector Dean Clinton said Sunbury’s drop in crime was most likely because of its Hume Tasking Team, which worked from the Sunbury Police Station throughout 2022.
Regional operations deputy commissioner Rick Nugent said while Victoria Police anticipated the crime rate would grow as the state moved away from the pandemic, they would be doing what they could to keep it low.
“A significant degree of proactive enforcement occurs each and every day to keep the community safe and prevent offending before it occurs,” he said.
“Proactive policing will continue to be a pivotal component in Victoria Police’s approach to reducing crime and holding offenders accountable in 2023 and beyond.”
In Sunbury, the only increases in offence type were justice procedures offences, from 521 in 2021 to 538 in 2022 representing a three per cent increase.
Inspector Clinton said this increase was small and may be because of a growing population.
“But we also have dedicated family violence teams that work in Hume and they conduct work that leads to the detection of breaches,” he said.
Gisborne experienced a 31 drop in the crime rate, property and deception offences rose 11 per cent, while Macedon’s crime rate rose 37 per cent, from 109 offences recorded in 2021 to 150 in 2022.
