By Gabriella Payne
The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) has revealed the latest Victorian crime statistics as it does every quarter, and it appears that crime is on the rise in Cardinia despite last year’s lengthy lockdowns.
According to the data released by the CSA, the number of total criminal incidents in Cardinia Shire rose 2.3 per cent as compared to the same time the year before, with 5,572 incidents recorded in the year ending March 2021, as compared to 5,449 from the year ending March 2020.
The number one hot spot for criminal activity was Pakenham by a mile – with a whopping 3,236 criminal incidents recorded in the last year.
The other ‘top five’ suburbs in Cardinia for criminal activity were Officer with 687 incidents recorded, Beaconsfield with 200, Lang Lang with 191 and Nar Nar Goon with 179.
Interestingly, the most common “principal offence subgroup” recorded in this year’s data was for “public health and safety offences” – a direct correlation to the pandemic and lockdown regulations Melbourne have faced in the past year, with 764 incidents recorded, as compared to 0 in the previous year.
The second most common type of offence recorded was stealing from a motor vehicle with 535 incidents recorded – an improvement on last year however, when 661 incidents of theft from a motor vehicle were recorded.
Offences for breaching family violence orders came in third most common, sadly rising from the previous year with 482 incidents recorded in the year ending March 2021, up more than 50 from the previous year.
‘Other theft’ followed suit, with 388 cases recorded and ‘criminal damage’ was just behind, with 367 cases recorded.
When it came to charges, only 30.8 per cent of the criminal incidents recorded had had charges laid against them, with 29.5 per cent having no charges laid and the majority, 39.8 per cent being classed as unsolved.
For more information or to see the full list of data, head to https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/latest-crime-data-by-area and select Cardinia.
