DRUG offences, home burglaries, robberies and assaults in Maribyrnong have spiked in the year to December, according to the latest Victoria Police crime statistics.
The data shows drug offences jumped by almost one third (28per cent) in the 12 months compared with the previous year.
Residential burglaries have increased by 27percent, robberies by 20percent and assaults by 16percent.
Inspector Tony Long, of Footscray police, said close to half the offenders were arrested.
He said dealing with assaults was problematic because almost 25percent of the cases were family violence incidents, while a majority of the rest were between people known to each other.
“That’s really difficult to police and we certainly don’t have a high level of random assaults occurring. We have issues with people drinking [at the park] in McNab Avenue [Footscray] and we put resources there.”
He said the CCTV cameras were not preventing crimes occurring but were helping police catch offenders and were providing better-quality evidence in court.
Greater attention to personal safety could help stem the rise in robberies. “If you travel home on public transport late at night get someone to pick you up from the station or get a taxi. If you have to walk don’t walk down dark streets or with laptops visible or texting on your iPhone.”
Inspector Long said the high number of drug offenders was due to a higher number of offenders being caught during operations.
“If we didn’t have that large number of drug offences our crime figures would look a lot better. But by targeting drug offences and making it harder to get drugs has a flow-on effect in stopping them committing other crimes.”
Police are continuing to warn residents to take precautions to help stem the rise in burglaries and thefts from cars.
“The number of reports I see of items stolen from unlocked vehicles, open handbags and from unlocked houses and sheds amazes me,” Inspector Long said.
