The Crime Statistics Agency has released the Victorian recorded crime statistics for the year ending September 30.
It appears the pandemic has contributed to significant declines in recorded crime, with levels across Victoria the lowest since 2005.
In the 12 months to September 30 the criminal incident rate decreased by 4.3 per cent.
The total criminal incidents in Mitchell Shire decreased by 11.2 per cent, from 2676 to 2375.
Decreased breaches of Chief Health Officer public orders are the main driver of the decrease in alleged offender incidents in the past 12 months, following a peak in 2020.
Family-violence offences have decreased 3.3 per cent and non-family-violence related offences have decreased 4.6 per cent across the state.
Acting Sergeant Ryan Coleman from Seymour Police Station said that for police officers crime continued, although COVID-19 may have changed its face.
“With COVID we did see a fair shift in crime statistics — some crime did reduce a fair bit, with people not moving around and being active in their normal selves,” Sgt Coleman said.
“We did see an increase in other forms of crime reporting, like online fraudulence and family violence, unfortunately. They were probably matters that we knew were going to increase, given the circumstances.”