Crime in Greater Geelong fell slightly this year according to figures released by the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) on Thursday.
For the 12 months ending September 30, the statewide average of criminal offences fell by 4.3 per cent, the lowest level since 2005.
In Greater Geelong, overall criminal incidents decreased from 14,793 to 14,669, down by 0.7 per cent.
Crimes against the person in the region remained steady with 2884 incidents compared to 2881 last year.
Serious assault incidents fell by 4.9 per cent, but aggravated robbery increased by 37 per cent.
Family violence common assault also escalated in the region by 12.4 per cent, however family violence threatening behaviour decreased by 26.5 per cent.
Breaches of family violence orders increased by almost 15 per cent, but breaching bail conditions offences were down by almost 13 per cent.
Stealing from motor vehicle offences skyrocketed from 1615 offences recorded to 2003 and motor vehicle theft increased from 281 to 413.
Drug offences in Greater Geelong were down 21.4 per cent.
CSA chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said that “the notable decreases in recorded crime levels during the COVID-19 pandemic period have contributed to the lowest Victorian criminal incident rates since 2005”.
“Decreases in Breaches of Chief Health Officer public orders are the main driver of the decrease in alleged offender incidents in the last 12 months, with offences for Breaches of Chief Health Officer directions related to the COVID-19 pandemic measures peaking during 2020,” Ms Dowsley said.
The rate of recorded offences decreased 5.0% to 7,196.4 per 100,000 Victorians in the last 12 months, as did the number of offences, down 4.3% to 474,446. Both family-violence and non-family-violence related offences have decreased in the last 12 months (down 3.3% to 109,530 offences and down 4.6% to 364,916 offences respectively).
