CRIME in Hobsons Bay has increased by 1.9 per cent, the latest crime statistics have revealed.
Residential burglaries have seen the biggest jump, increasing by a whopping 24.8 per cent.
Drug offences also saw an increase of 7.1 per cent, crimes against the person increased by 5.7 per cent while crimes against property saw a slight increase by 0.4 per cent.
Despite the increases it wasn’t all bad news for Hobsons Bay, robbery decreased by 3.9 per cent, along with property damage by 8.4 per cent and assaults including family violence decreased by one per cent.
Thefts from and of motor vehicles, other burglaries and assaults excluding family violence also all saw decreases.
Hobsons Bay Inspector Bill Mathers said the best news from the statistics was the drop in road statistics with saw no fatalities in the past 12 months and a drop in the total number of road injuries.
“This is a tremendous result as road trauma has a devastating impact on families and communities,” he said.
“The challenge for us is to keep our area fatality-free.”
Insp Mathers related the substantial increase in residential burglaries to low residential burglary rates from the previous year.
“We are working hard to drive and keep the residential burglary rates down as this offence is one that most members of our community find the most disturbing.”
“The increase in drug offences is a positive for our area as we are processing more people for using and more importantly targeting and prosecuting more for selling drugs.
“We will be working hard to reduce crime and will be asking the community to assist us in keeping Hobsons Bay safe.”
