Violence against the person has seen a dramatic rise in Moira Shire in the 12 months ending September 30, 2023 with an increase of 30.8% of family incidents, other parties and affected family members.
Twelve months’ worth of police and victim reports were released by the Crime Statistics Agency recently with the statistics revealing that the Moira Local Government Area (LGA) experienced 633 domestic violence cases in 2023 compared to 484 in 2022.
Moira Shire overall also experienced an increase of 20.5% criminal incidents than the same period last year.
In Yarrawonga alone, there was 376 criminal incidents recorded in the 2023 period, 52 up on the 324 incidents recorded in 2022.
Most of these were relating to breach family violence order, criminal damage, steal from motor vehicle and residential non-aggravated burglary.
There were 95 incidents of theft in Yarrawonga, down from 99 in 2022, 52 cases of assault compared to 47 in 2022, 34 cases of property damage compared to 30 in 2022 and 23 cases of burglary/ break and enter, up from 21 in 2022.
Across the Moira Shire in 2022, there were 1407 criminal incidents recorded and in 2023 there were 1695 incidents.
In a positive sign, victim reporting was up with an increase of 29.1% with 1260 reported for 2023 while in 2022 976 reports were made.
Theft was the highest principal offence with breach of orders, assault and related offences following closely behind while property damage and burglary/break and enter rounded out the figures.
Yarrawonga Police Senior Sergeant Nathan Ractliffe acknowledged that family violence is probably local police’s biggest trending offence at the moment as Police spend a lot of time responding to family violence.
“These can be anything from a verbal dispute between parent and child to husband and wife or the high end offending where you have serial offenders,” Snr Sgt Ractliffe said.
“That does drive the figures but having said that, the more reports we get for family violence, the better we are at holding family violence perpetrators to account.
“Yes there is probably an increase in numbers and as our population grows in Moira and Yarrawonga, our stats are going to increase as well.
“But what I do not want to see is a substantial increase. We have to start to look at what is going on.
“The family violence unit out of Wangaratta have had a number of proactive operations in relation to targeting recidivous offenders. So what they’ve been doing is going back and investigating perpetrators and the last few relationships they’ve had, getting statements from victims who never reported violence.
“That also adds to the increase. There have been a lot of proactive policing in that space.”
Snr Sgt Ractliffe also acknowledged figures in other departments have increased in the Moira Shire region but his message to the community has always been the same. That police don’t know what is going on unless people tell them and for people to be more proactive in their own safety.
“There’s been some little pockets of I suppose trouble. We have had some areas where they have probably been hit harder than normal but look yes there has been an increase but what I can say is that there has been a great resolve rate,” Snr Sgt Ractliffe said.
“That means the crime has been committed but we are holding people to account, we have been able to process offenders to those offences.
“I think the figures say there has been an increase and that’s not good in any environment but our clean up/ resolve rate is really good so that sort of combats that.
“We want to be proactive with people reporting crimes and suspicious behaviour so we can provide a more poignant service where it needs to be, instead of just driving around aimlessly.
“We want to target high locations. Sometimes a call about one crime can solve 30.
“Country people are pretty trustworthy so we just want those people who are victims to do little things that will put a damper on that type of offending.
“The second is to just be safe and secure. Lock your car, lock your house, take the steps to do their own prevention. Not just relying on police to catch them. It is just that easy stuff that hurts on the peripheral.
“We want people to be more proactive with their own safety and security.”
Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy said that unfortunately statewide the whole of Victoria is seeing a rise in the crime rate, which whilst it would be easy to point fingers, is a sign that the broader picture needs to be looked at.
“2022 saw a significant drop in recorded incidences, which we need to look at and work out what the reason for that was, and what has changed since 2022 that may have lead to a spike,” Mr McCurdy said.
“As with all things, I would encourage the government to continue funding regional policing, including one-man police stations.
“Domestic violence does remain a concern, and it is important that each and every one of us take responsibility for our actions, and treat others with respect.
“Further, it is imperative that we are checking in with friends and family, and offering support to those who need it.
“No-one should ever feel threatened or unsafe in their home.”
Across Victoria in the year ending September 2023 a significant increase in the number of cases were heard in the specialist family violence court division of the Magistrates’ Court due to more specialist courts commencing operation.
In 2022-23, 22,916 original FVIO applications were heard in the specialist division, compared with 8,438 in 2021-22.
This indicates that more family violence cases are receiving specialised treatment in court, with staff who have been specially trained in the complex dynamics of family violence.
Crime Statictics Agency Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said the newest figures represents a significant advance in how the Victorian criminal justice system responds to family violence.
“There has been a significant increase in the number of family violence intervention order cases heard in the specialist family violence jurisdiction over the past 12 months,” Ms Dowsley said.
“This shift demonstrates an increase in the capacity of the criminal justice system to apply specialist knowledge to manage often complex family violence matters.
“Evidence suggests that this can result in better outcomes for victim survivors of family violence.”
If you witness any crime, contact local police at Yarrawonga on 5744 3641, Mulwala Police on 5743 8099, Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Cobram CIU on 5871 1977. For emergencies contact 000.
If you become a victim of any scams firstly contact your financial institution and the Police.
The Victoria Police website also has valuable crime prevention tips, party safe registration, firearms applications and forms as well as lots of other useful data for the community so visit police.vic.gov.au for more information.
