By Brendan Rees
Burglaries have fallen significantly in Casey over the past year, latest crime statistics have revealed.
The number of recorded offences in Casey fell by 4.9 per cent while burglaries accounted for a 12.4 per cent drop – down 44 per cent since 2016.
Among the biggest reductions were drug use and possession (17.2 per cent), weapons and explosive offences (7.3 per cent), property damage (8.8 per cent), sexual offences (20.9 per cent), stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour (4.5 per cent), thefts (1.8 per cent), and homicide and related offences (32.2 per cent).
Casey Local Area Commander Inspector Donald Brown said it was encouraging to see a decrease in the number of burglaries.
“Our police have been working extremely hard every day and night to interrupt the crime cycle. We will continue to do all we can to prevent and detect crime in order to ensure the Casey community is safe and feels safe,” he said.
However, Insp Brown said theft of motor vehicles were up by 18.1 per cent while theft from motor vehicles increased by 17.9 per cent.
“We know these types of crimes have been a concern recently and police will continue to proactively target known hotspots in an effort to detect and deter offending,” he said.
Cranbourne MP Pauline Richards said the decrease in crime was a result of a well-resourced police force proactively policing crime in the community.
“Our police are doing a lot of work to tackle crime issues in our community – and while the headline figures in this release are promising, we will not lose sight of the challenge that the entire community faces to drive down high harm crimes and family violence,” she said.
Ms Richards said the State Government was committed to boosting police capacity in the area, constructing a new police station in Clyde and rebuilding the Narre Warren Police Station.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said the statistics showed the lowest victimisation rate across Victoria since 2004.
“We know, I know, every Victoria police officer knows this is not just figures. These are people; these are victims of crime who have suffered real life experiences, sometimes very traumatic,” he said.
“The increase in police resources is having an impact on the number of offences and we would expect that trend to continue as we deploy the remainder of that 3,135 police of the coming years.”
Gembrook MP Brad Battin said with the overall state-wide rate increasing 1.7 per cent in the year ending 31 December 2018, “worrying trends” were appearing locally with jumps in aggravated robberies and assaults.
“The Liberal Party committed to a new station in Clyde, and the Government must deliver this now,” Mr Battin said.
According to Gordon Rich-Phillips MP, Liberal Member for South Eastern Metropolitan Region crime in Casey has risen by 19.3 per cent since December 2014 and called on Premier Daniel Andrews to deliver more front-line police.
