By Charlene Gatt
HOME burglaries have nearly doubled in the past financial year, contributing to a 7.5 per cent crime spike across the City of Maribyrnong.
The latest Victoria Police crime statistics reveal residential burglaries have jumped 46.5 per cent from the 2009-10 financial year to the 2010-11 financial year, with a total 876 home burglaries reported in the last 12 months.
There have also been significant increases in robberies (up 32.6 per cent) and theft from motor vehicles (22.9 per cent).
On the flip side, car thefts have gone down by 4.5 per cent.
Footscray Police Inspector Tony Long admitted police continued to be challenged by the increasing crime rate.
“Both crimes against the person and crimes against property have risen significantly when compared to the previous year,” he said.
“Significant effort has been directed at halting these increases, and progress has been made.
“Both police service area and divisional resources have been focused on trouble areas, with a view to prevent offences and detect offenders.”
The statistics follow a range of high visibility public order and crime prevention operations across the municipality.
Last month, police from the Transit Police and the Operations Response Unit conducted weapons and drugs searches at Footscray train station.
Meanwhile, the Footscray CBD CCTV system is up and running.
“The system has been a great benefit to police, already providing evidence to support prosecutions and allowing us to direct resources to incidents occurring within the coverage area,” Inspector Long said.
