HALTING a rise in family violence is among the top challenges for Wyndham police, new crime figures reveal
Wyndham last year recorded a 32 per cent increase in family violence reports, police receiving 498 reports, up from 377 in 2011.
Inspector Damien Christensen said the rise in reports meant police were able to reach out and help more families deal with domestic violence.
“An increase in family violence assaults where people are reporting for the first time gives police and support agencies the opportunity to provide assistance to families and people in need. Where reports continue to occur concerning the same relationships or where an escalation of the intensity of reporting occurs is of greater concern and has become a key focus of out family violence unit.”
Wyndham was not the only area to record a rise in family violence, with reports increasing by almost 40 per cent across the state.
Women’s Health West chief Dr Robyn Gregory said the statistics were reflected in a 40 per cent increase in family violence related workload for WHW in the past 12 months. The higher reporting rates reflected a greater willingness by women to speak out but times of economic and other stress also tended to lead to higher rates of violence.
“We have seen as many clients in the past seven months as we dealt with in the entire year before. There are a number of family violence orders being breached which is a bad thing, but the good thing is it means it is coming to the attention of police, and women are being referred to our service.”
Wyndham’s crime statistics also showed an increase in total crime last year, with 12,853 reports compared to 11,306 in 2011.
Reports of motor vehicle thefts increased 31.8 per cent, while theft from motor vehicles were up 25.9 per cent.
Inspector Christensen said most vehicle crimes occurred when doors and windows were left open or tools left in the back of tradesmen’s trucks.
Wyndham recorded a slight increase in residential burglaries last year but Inspector Christensen said reports fell towards the end of 2012.
“The efforts of our police members to reduce crime have seen residential burglary and vehicle crime trending down since September 2012,” Inspector Christensen said.
— with Benjamin Millar
