By Paul Millar
DRUG offences in Geelong have soared over the past year, with a local security boss saying “it’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it”.
The latest police statistics for Geelong show drug offences climbed 11.6 per cent to 607, with theft of motor vehicles up 8.9 per cent to 711.
The drug statistics were no surprise to Rocky Pirrottina, the head of the Hume Protection Group and a veteran observer of the street scene in Geelong.
“There’s a big increase in drug use…there is a lot of people who are off their faces,’’ the one-time boxing champion said.
His company provides security guards for Geelong taxi ranks, giving them a first-hand perspective of activities in the early hours.
“People seem to be more stoned than drunk these days,’’ Mr Pirrottina said.
“Nobody has money any more and then there’s the ice. There are a lot more desperate people out there.”
Assaults in Geelong were down from 1854 to 1777 and residential burglaries dipped from 1136 to 1078.
Geelong Police Inspector Gary Thompson said the Divisional Response Unit, High Volume Crime Team and Criminal Investigation Unit could take the credit for detecting illicit drug use and operations.
“These units continue to be extremely active and significant arrests continue to be made. These units will continue to tackle serious crime groups and illicit drug activity,” Insp Thompson said.
Surf Coast statistics showed a drop of 17 per cent in drug offences to 93 but crime against the person was up 23 per cent to 470 offences. Property offences rose from 1430 to 1656, assaults from 310 to 332 and car theft from 57 to 70.
Surf Coast Inspector Peter Seel said the increases in his area were disappointing.
“A lot of these crimes can be attributed to family violence assaults, although there are other categories that have also increased including property damage and theft of and from motor vehicles.
“There has been an increase in residential burglaries and other burglary, which is a concern.”
