The number of criminal incidents in Shepparton increased by 5.3 per cent in the year to March 2024, but police say it is not all bad news.
The Crime Statistics Agency results for the 12 months to March show there were 5921 criminal incidents in Greater Shepparton.
This is up by 298 on the previous 12 months, which saw 5623 incidents.
Shepparton Local Area Command Acting Inspector Brad Fisher said the reason some areas had seen an increase in criminal incidents — such as drug trafficking, cultivating and manufacturing — was because of an increase in police detecting the crimes, and not necessarily an increase in the crimes themselves.
He said family violence incidents also showed people were more comfortable reporting these issues to police, which then allowed police to better protect victims.
“It’s always disappointing to see crime higher than previous years, but if you look at the enforcement, that’s positive because of work by members to reduce harm to the public,” Act Insp Fisher said.
The statistics showed there were 729 assaults recorded in Greater Shepparton in the 12 months to March 2024.
This is the highest number of assaults in the past 10 years (the statistics do not go back any further).
Act Insp Fisher said the increase in assaults was caused by a combination of things.
Some were the result of family violence, and while Act Insp Fisher said this was not a good thing in itself, he was heartened by the fact victims were coming forward to report what was happening to them, so police could keep them safer.
Other results stemmed from the fact the world was still getting back to how it was before COVID-19, and that meant people were going out to licensed premises more, but also meant that more people were out and about and when they had disagreements, which could result in assaults, Act Insp Fisher said.
The officer said often driving-related matters such as crashes and road-rage incidents also ended up with assault-related charges.
There were also eight homicide or related incidents recorded in the 12 months — the highest figure in the 12 years for which statistics are available.
The number of sexual offences was slightly down on the previous 12 months, with 125 incidents compared to 128 the previous year.
There were 121 incidents of stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour, down slightly from 125.
There was an increase in the number of burglaries in the past year, with 582 this year, up from 560.
It was also the highest number of burglaries since 2020.
The number of thefts also increased, with 1243 — up from 1116 the previous year.
This included an increase in the number of thefts from vehicles to 430.
Act Insp Fisher said police found that many burglaries and thefts — especially thefts from cars — were opportunistic.
He said police often found a small number of people committed a large number of burglaries, but local police had “pretty good success in finding offenders”.
Act Insp Fisher also encouraged people to lock their vehicles and to remove valuables from them, or at least put them out of sight.
“It’s opportunistic. It’s rare that we find theft from vehicles that were locked,” he said.
The statistics showed a significant increase in property damage, with 570 incidents — an increase of 105 on the previous year.
The number of arson incidents was also up considerably, with 39 incidents recorded, compared with 24 the previous year.
There was an overall increase in drug offences this year, with 326 incidents — the highest figure in the past 10 years.
However, Act Insp Fisher said these increased drug numbers were the result of good policing.
Drug trafficking and drug dealing was on a par with last year, with 64 incidents recorded both years.
Cultivation or manufacturing of drugs saw a leap to 47 incidents — the highest figure in the past 10 years.
In the previous 12 months there were 39 incidents.
“This is a real positive,” Act Insp Fisher said.
“These numbers are generally around apprehension.
“In some regards we like to see the bigger numbers because it means we are apprehending more people.
“Recent operations by detectives have seen some excellent results.
“Ultimately, we would like to see zero (drug crimes), but in reality the high numbers show the enforcement and police are catching these people.”
The number of breaches of orders was similar this year to last year, with 1308 recorded.
These included an increase in the breaches of family violence intervention orders to 672 for the year, and 518 breaches of bail conditions among the breaches of orders.
The statistics showed that the number of offences recorded in Greater Shepparton in the 12 months to March was 8729, while there were 3237 alleged offender incidents in the same period.