By Vanessa Chircop
CRIME in Hobsons Bay has fallen by 7.8 per cent, the latest crime statistics have revealed.
Despite the drop, crime against the person has increased by 8.1 per cent with robbery increasing by a massive 25.8 per cent and drug offence by 6.3 per cent.
Overall crime against property decreased by 12.7 per cent with residential burglary down by 5.4 per cent and theft from motor vehicles down by 16.8 per cent.
A total of 5,303 crimes were committed between July 2010 and June 2011 compared with 5751 between July 2009 and June 2010.
Acting Inspector Kerin Moloney told Star he was happy that the statistics decreased over the 12 month period.
“Having said that we’re continuing to work closely with the community to drive the number of offences down,” he said.
“A number of areas of priority are robberies and residential burglaries.”
Act Insp Moloney said robberies, which involve the use of threats of physical violence against a person to obtain property, can be linked with the increase in drug offences.
He added residential burglaries similarly go hand in hand with drug offences.
Between July 2010 and June 2011, 422 residential burglaries were recorded in Hobsons Bay.
“Residential burglaries are the highest impact crime in Hobsons Bay and we will continue to work strongly towards limiting this offending,” he said.
“The spike in drug offences reinforces our efforts of trying to control drugs in the community.
“Drugs cause a large motivation for committing property crime – particularly residential burglaries and are generally carried out by a small number of individuals.”
