By Alesha Capone
The number of sexual assaults recorded in Wyndham has fallen by more than a third across 12 months, with police attributing the reduction to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency last week released Victoria Police data for the year ending September 2021.
In Wyndham, there were 460 sexual assaults recorded in this timeframe, compared to 718 in September 2019-September 2020.
The offence of obtaining benefits by deception also dropped from 1077 to 710 crimes.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said: “Both of these decreases are largely as a result of the restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic that were in place at this time, which limited the movement of people within the community.
“The reduction in deception offences can be largely associated with the fact many retail and shopping outlets were closed for a large portion of this time.”
The overall number of crimes recorded by police in Wyndham also fell 11.3 per cent across 12 months, from 16,292 offences to 18,376 offences.
The crime drop in Wyndham reflected a general reduction in offences across the state, with 496,260 criminal offences recorded across Victoria – a decrease of 10 per cent across the 12 months.
However, the number of family violence-related offences in Wyndham increased by 12.6 per cent from 3577 crimes to 4022 crimes.
The police spokesperson said that any increase in family violence offending was “incredibly concerning”.
“However it is important to note that the increase seen in Wyndham is in line with what police saw across the state,” they said.
“This increase would undoubtedly have been impacted by the restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic, however may also reflect an increased community confidence in reporting to police.
“Heading into the Christmas and New Year period, which is traditionally a worrying time for family violence, Victoria Police is retaining its focus on proactively monitoring and engaging with members of the community who are subject to family violence orders in an effort to protect victims and identify breaches.”
For assistance contact the Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre 1800 015 188 or visit safesteps.org.au, or call the Victorian Sexual Assault Crisis Line on 1800 806 292 or visit the Western Region Centre Against Sexual Assault website, westcasa.org.au/.
