By Charlene Macaulay
Overall crime in Wyndham has dropped to its lowest rate in a decade, but sexual offences have soared in the past 12 months, new crime figures reveal.
The latest data from the Crime Statistics Agency reveals total crime across Wyndham has dropped 7.8 per cent in 2017-18 compared to the previous year.
This is despite a 33 per cent spike in sexual offences (from 281 to 374) recorded over the same period. Sexual offences include rape, indecent assault, incest, sexual offences against children and other sexual offences.
The category has been steadily increasing, with 165 sex crimes recorded in the 2012-13 data.
Wyndham Police Inspector Marty Allison said sexual offences against children, particularly child pornography offences, were on the rise.
“While there are some individuals in our society – not just Wyndham, but right across Australia – for reasons only known to themselves that keep pictures of children which are just abhorrent, we proactively go after those people.”
He said the recent royal commissions into family violence and sex offences had encouraged more victims to come forward, while a family violence program running across Wyndham, Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay, which specifically asked victims if they had been sexually assaulted, has resulted in increased reporting.
“It’s not a welcome increase, but it’s not surprising us,” Inspector Allison said.
He also said he was pleased to see residents taking crime prevention seriously, a move he attributes to Wyndham recording its lowest crime rate per 100,000 population in the past 10 years.
“It’s a remarkable achievement … it’s a whole of community action,” he said.
The area recorded significant decreases in residential aggravated burglaries (down 34 per cent), residential non-aggravated burglaries (down 20 per cent), car thefts (down 33.8 per cent) and theft from motor vehicles (down 23.8 per cent).
Inspector Allison said police were currently cracking down on street robberies, particularly around shopping centres, train stations and bus stops and the surrounding streets and parklands.
“We’ve had an increase in resources coming in to our local government area and we’re using those resources to deploy into those areas where we know those robberies are occurring.”
