CRIME in Wyndham has risen by 18 per cent in the past year, with drug offences, residential burglaries, property damage and theft of motor vehicles the biggest problems for police.
New Victoria Police statistics reveal 11,876 offences were recorded in Wyndham between April last year and March this year, up from 10,071 in April 2010-March 2011.
More than 1500 offences related to residential burglaries, which were up 23per cent on the previous year.
As reported in the Weekly, houses under construction account for a large proportion of Wyndham’s residential burglaries, prompting the burglary unit to work with local builders to secure new homes.
Inspector Cindy Millen said Operation Lockdown, which was carried out this month, aimed to drive down residential burglaries.
“Operation Lockdown was about sending a clear message to offenders that we will deploy every resource necessary to prevent these offences from occurring.
“We will continue to run these types of operations with high police visibility to saturate the city of Wyndham.”
Graffiti also continues to be a significant problem for police, with property damage offences up by almost 20per cent.
Inspector Millen said police were working with the council, which recently developed a five-year strategy to remove graffiti from private and public land.
She said damage to letterboxes, bus shelters and windows had also contributed to the increase in property damage.
A 22per cent increase in drug offences did not mean there had been a spike in drug use in Wyndham, Inspector Millen said, but rather was the result of the police focus on drug-related offences.
There were 428 drug-related offences recorded between April last year and March this year. Inspector Millen said most related to cannabis crops being set up in houses.
Robberies dropped by more than 6per cent over the past year while assault, excluding family violence, fell by 7.5per cent.
Injuries as a result of road accidents also decreased by 2per cent, with 387 people injured on Wyndham’s roads, compared to 395 the previous year.
