Friday 16 March 2018

The offence rate has dropped across local government areas in Gippsland as the Andrews Labor Government’s record investment in Victoria Police continues to roll out.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing today welcomed the latest statistics from the Crime Statistics Agency, which show the overall decrease across most LGAs was led by a drop in theft offences.

In 2017, the offence rate decreased in Latrobe City LGA by 8 per cent, driven by decreases in Burglary and thefts. These offences have both decreased by 9.7 per cent and 25.6 per cent respectively.

The offence rate for Baw Baw and Bass Coast shires decreased by 10.7 percent and 14.7 per cent respectively.

South Gippsland experienced a 3.8 per cent drop in the offence rate in the year to 31 December 2017.  East Gippsland Shire and Wellington Shire saw their offence rates fall by 5.3 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

Statewide, there was an 8.6 per cent drop in the number of offences and a 9.9 per cent decrease in the offence rate.

These statistics show promising signs for Gippsland, as they do for Victoria, – but the work is not done.

This drop is due to the relentless efforts of Victoria Police in reducing crime across the state and Harriet Shing has expressed the community’s appreciation to each member of the force for their tireless work over the past year.

The roll out of the government’s record $2 billion investment in Victoria Police continues, with 3135 frontline police to be deployed by mid-2022, better technology, state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, stronger laws and tougher sentences.

Quotes attributable to Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing:

“While these are obviously encouraging statistics for our communities and across the state and show that we are heading in the right direction, there is still more work to be done to address the harm caused by crime and to hold offenders to account. The Andrews Labor Government and Victoria Police continue to work hard to address these issues and we are absolutely determined to continue this decrease into the future.”

“Our local police members across Gippsland are working hard to target the crime issues, such as family violence and alcohol- and drug-related offences, which affect our community, which we can see reflected in these latest statistics.”

“They’re backed by the government’s record investment in Victoria Police and we will continue to provide the resources, technology and the facilities they need to respond to crime.”