Greater Geelong has seen the number of criminal incidents reported to police drop by more than 10 per cent in 2021.
The Crime Statistics Agency released its latest data last week which showed there were 14,757 criminal incidents recorded in Greater Geelong in 2021.
That was a 10.8 per cent decrease on the 16,564 recorded in 2020, and the lowest recorded in the municipality since 2013.
The number of offences recorded also dropped by 12.9 per cent, from 22,984 in 2020 to 20,018 in 2021.
“While COVID-19 lockdowns and heavy restrictions on movement have absolutely contributed to a drop in overall crime over the last 12 months, it is extremely pleasing to see a reduction in offences that seriously impact the community such as home burglaries and car thefts, which are both at 10-year lows,” Geelong Police superintendent Peter Green said.
“Despite this, police have certainly not been taking their foot off the pedal when it comes to tackling crime.
“We have been working tirelessly to keep the Geelong community safe – from the police vehicle patrolling your neighbourhood to keep thieves at bay, to the detectives investigating, arresting and prosecuting some of our more serious offenders.”
Drug offences saw one of the biggest changes, dropping by more than one-third.
The change was down to a 35 per cent drop in drug use and possession offences.
Property offences had a 14 per cent reduction with 105 less home burglaries and 79 less car theft offences recorded.
There were also 288 less criminal damage offences recorded.
The statistics also saw a significant decrease in public health and safety offences, which in 2020 were mainly breaches of the chief health officer’s COVID-19 directives.
The 70 per cent drop in 2021 was directly linked to the eased restrictions last year.
Crimes against the person were the only category of offences to increase in Greater Geelong in 2021.
There were an extra 126 assault-related offences recorded, while abduction offences were at their highest in the past decade.
Blackmail and extortion offences double, from four to nine in 2021, while there was also a small increase in stalking and harassment offences.
Geelong’s CBD, Corio and Norlane were the top three suburbs for criminal incidents, although Corio was the only one of the three to see an increase in 2021.
Superintendent Green said police expected crime would rise as in 2022 as people experience more freedoms following the easing of restrictions.
Both 2020 and 2021 saw months of lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions on movement and venues that impacted crime rates.
“As the community continues to emerge from the pandemic, police are expecting to see an increase in overall crime, however the early signs are fairly positive,” Superintendent Green said.
“We are yet to see a rapid return across all crime categories to pre-pandemic levels of offending.
“With pubs and clubs back at full capacity and events such as music festivals resuming, police anticipate drug-related offending will again rise in line with people obtaining and using illicit drugs more frequently.
“By the same token, we expect to see an increase in home burglaries and car thefts as people move about the region more freely but police will continue to proactively target this offending via the sharing of intelligence and monitoring recidivist offenders to ensure they are complying with their bail conditions.”
The Surf Coast Shire also saw a similar 9.7 per cent decrease in criminal incidents in 2021.
There were 1079 criminal incidents in the shire, which was 118 less than in 2020 but still more than 2019, before the pandemic, where 1003 were recorded.
Crimes against the person saw the biggest increase, with sexual offences jumping from 19 in 2020 to 53 in 2021 – the highest rate recorded in at least a decade.
The Surf Coast also saw an increase in stalking and harassment offences to their highest level, as well as a small increase in assaults.
The Surf Coast also experienced the trend of decreasing property offences, but did not see the drop in drug offences that Greater Geelong did.
Statewide Victoria recorded its lowest number of offences – 477,999 in 2021 – since 2014.
“While each victim of crime is one person too many, we are pleased that last year we had the lowest number of victims in Victoria since 2010, with almost 14,500 fewer victims of crime than the year prior,” Victoria Police regional operations deputy commissioner Rick Nugent said.
