CRIME rates in Wyndham have risen across the past 12 months, including residential burglaries and assaults, as the area’s top policeman says he would like more officers.
Victoria Police released statistics last week, comparing offences committed in April 2010-March 2011 with the previous timeframe.
Within the period, ‘crimes against the person’ in Wyndham increased by more than 20 per cent, from 1024 incidents to 1233.
Residential burglaries went up by more than a fifth, with more than 1200 committed, while other types of burglaries rose by 10 per cent and thefts from motor vehicles grew by 19 per cent to reach 1510.
Wyndham Police Inspector Bill Weatherly, said the Werribee Police Station’s Burglary Unit “alone arrested 19 offenders for various burglaries in Wyndham” within May.
“A new initiative to support the burglary unit will commence on the 20th June, and this will be a response car,” he said.
“The unit will work between the daylight hours 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday – the major times for burglary.
“Their sole duty will be to patrol the hot spots and check vehicles and suspects and to gather intelligence, they will not be diverted to any other duties.
“The response vehicle will be manned by uniform and plain clothes members.”
A few weeks ago, Star reported Wyndham Councillor Kim McAliney said the area was struggling with a lack of police, with one officer for every 1200 residents.
Insp Weatherly said he was allocated “resource numbers and my job is to make sure these members are placed in the best areas to give the best possible service delivery to the community”.
“Yes, just like any other Inspector in a similar position I would like extra police and I know that police executive continue to assess the police numbers in Wyndham just like in other policing areas,” he said.
“I believe I have a great crew of dedicated members at Wyndham, in fields such as Uniform, Criminal Investigation, Highway Patrol, Crime Scene Investigation and also Community Engagement, and we will continue to give the people of Wyndham the best possible service we can.”
The police statistics also showed the amount of robberies in Wyndham rose from 67 to 97, while assaults spiked at 964, up 19 per cent.
However, when family violence was excluded from assault rates, this dropped to 660 incidents, a 17 per cent rise.
Crime against property went up 10 per cent and total crime in the area also rose by 10 per cent, up to 10,027 instances, the highest increase out of all police service areas within the Melbourne metropolitan area.
