By Alesha Capone
An increased number of assaults, sexual assaults, robberies and burglaries reported in Wyndham last year has driven a 15.9 per cent rise in the area’s overall crime rate.
The state’s Crime Statistics Agency last week released data from Victoria Police, showing the number of crimes recorded in Wyndham was 16,760 in 2019, compared to 14,494 in 2018.
Assaults and related offences rose to 1481 incidents, up from 1209 in 2018, with 507 assaults classified as non-family violence and 64 of the assaults committed against police and other emergency service workers.
There were 451 sexual assaults reported in Wyndham, up from 360 the previous year, four homicides and 225 robberies, up from 149.
Out of the 1334 burglaries and break-and-enters, 135 were residential aggravated burglaries and 924 were residential non-aggravated.
Drugs offences rose to 829 (803 previously); abductions and related offences to 31 (17 previously); property damage to 1273 (1014 previously); and thefts to 6309 (5188 previously).
Offence types which fell across the 12 months included stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour; dangerous and negligent acts endangering people ; weapons and explosives crimes ; and public nuisance offences.
Houses were the top location for crime to occur in Wyndham, with 5838 criminal incidents recorded at residential premises.
Streets, lanes and footpaths were the second-highest location for crimes to be committed (2003 offences), followed by service stations (1369 crimes), shopping complexes (790 crimes) and other retail locations (504 crimes).
Werribee was the top Wyndham suburb for crime (4768 offences), followed by Hoppers Crossing (3132 offences), Point Cook (2276 offences), Tarneit (2015 offences) and Wyndham Vale (1601 offences).
More than 44 per cent of Wyndham’s crimes from last year resulted in an arrest or summons to court, while 42.5 per cent remain unsolved, 6.8 per cent at “intent to summons” status and 6.3 classified as an “other” status.
