By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey mayor Sam Aziz says “we’ve lost the battle” after Casey’s crime rate soared during 2016, according to official crime statistics.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency, reported offences in Casey went up 12.5 per cent on a per-capita basis (15 per cent on raw figures).
It was higher than the statewide per-capita crime-rate rise of 10.2 per cent.
Cr Aziz said his concerted law-and-order campaign – including lowering the council’s flag to half-mast and declaring Casey as a “city in distress” – was vindicated by crime’s “exponential” growth.
“I was a bit more than surprised by the (latest statistics),” Cr Aziz said.
“I was heart-broken. There is very much a human side to these statistics.
“In reality, people’s lives are disrupted every day by the rise of crime. It flows on to depression, break-ups in families – it makes people feel very insecure.”
Overall, there were more than 2200 assaults in 2016 – up 20.9 per cent, more than 2800 burglaries – up 31.5 per cent, and 8000-plus thefts – up 17.8 per cent.
Put another way, that’s more than 40 assaults, about 55 burglaries and about 150 thefts a week.
Arsons nearly doubled to 256 for the calendar year.
On the other hand, drug offences were down 8.6 per cent; trafficking and drug dealing dipped 25 per cent, while drug cultivation and manufacture halved.
Hardest hit suburbs for burglaries were Berwick (up 40 per cent), Clyde North (up 46 per cent), Cranbourne West (up 31 per cent), Hallam (up 40 per cent) and Hampton Park (up 67 per cent).
Cr Aziz called for a stronger response from the State Government, which has pledged 3135 extra police officers in Victoria over the next five years.
He reiterated his call for a reversal of Endeavour Hills police station’s “part-time” status, tougher sentencing, deportations of dual citizens and an anti-youth gang taskforce of state and federal police.
“I think we’ve lost the battle with crime and I want to make sure we don’t lose the war as well.”
Police Minister Lisa Neville said police were making more arrests than ever as part of a crime crackdown across the state.
“What we are seeing in these statistics is the results of this enforcement activity and the beginnings of a stabilisation in the number of offences.
“We’ve always said turning the six year crime trend around would be tough, and we’ve always been upfront about that.”
Opposition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue said the “staggering” 37.9 per cent rise in offences in Casey during the Andrews Government’s first two years told of a “crime crisis”.
He said funding needed to be brought forward for “desperately needed” extra police in Casey.
“While home invasions, car-jackings and crimes against the person have become depressingly common, Daniel Andrews has cut the opening hours of the Endeavour Hills Police Station and refused to commit to the much needed new Clyde police station.”
Crime Statistics Agency chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said vehicle theft and theft from vehicles was a sharp contributor to the statewide rise in thefts.
In February, Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton told a Casey Neighbourhood Watch forum that he was confident that police could help drive down the crime rate as low as one to two per cent growth by the second half of 2017.
Last year, it had been climbing by 14 per cent but trending towards single digits in recent months.
The alarming spate of home invasions and carjackings was dissipating due to higher remand rates for those offences, Mr Ashton said.
But “softer-target” robberies of service stations and supermarkets, particularly for cigarettes, were rising.
Victoria Police did not respond to the latest stats by deadline.
