General News
11 April, 2024
Alarm as crime rate on the rise across region
Wimmera region residents are most at risk of experiencing crime inside their own homes.
Wimmera region residents are most at risk of experiencing crime inside their own homes.
Crime Statistics Agency data released this week show that 2758 criminal incidents were reported to police in 2023 across the five local government areas at the heart of the region.
Offences in residential buildings led the figures in Hindmarsh, Horsham Rural City, Yarriambiack, Buloke and West Wimmera.
Criminal incidents in private dwellings – houses, flats, units, apartments, caravans or mobile homes – were highest in Horsham (711).
In Yarriambiack, 111 home-based incidents were recorded, followed by 92 in Hindmarsh, 77 in Buloke and 59 in West Wimmera.
Farmland was the setting for 30 criminal acts in Buloke, five in Hindmarsh, 14 in Horsham, three in West Wimmera and 18 in Yarriambiack.
Police were called to incidents at schools or other educational facilities 27 times in Horsham throughout the year, 13 times in Yarriambiack, four times in Hindmarsh, three times in Buloke and twice in West Wimmera.
Horsham – with its significantly bigger population base – also had the greatest tally of criminal incidents at hospitals or medical centres (10), on licensed premises (27), in restaurants or fast-food outlets (15) and at service stations (34).
The crime rate in Horsham was 876 per 10,000 people, compared to 521 per 10,000 in Yarriambiack and 457 per 10,000 in Buloke.
Hindmarsh (405) and West Wimmera (345) were the two shires whose residents were least likely to be affected by crime.
In all five regional areas, the likelihood of being involved in a criminal incident as either a perpetrator or a victim had increased notably year-on-year.
Offences rose in Buloke from 206 in 2022 to 279 last year, in Hindmarsh from 197 to 225, in Horsham from 1588 to 1786, in West Wimmera from 96 to 135 and in Yarriambiack from 302 to 333.
Drug-related incidents – cultivation, trafficking or possession – were the most prevalent type of offence in Buloke, where 96 incidents were documented.
Burglary or theft was dominant in the other four municipalities: Hindmarsh (100 incidents), Horsham (379), West Wimmera (38) and Yarriambiack (138).
Property damage was high in Horsham, where police looked into 242 offences.
Assault was recorded 38 times in Buloke, 30 in Hindmarsh, 275 in Horsham, 26 in West Wimmera and 44 in Yarriambiack.
Horsham was the only local government area not to have seen murder in 2023, two cases each of homicide having occurred in the four shires.
Sexual assault ranged from four offences in Buloke to a high of 67 in Horsham.
Horsham had by far the highest number of charges laid by police across all incident categories: 819.
Criminal charges were laid 78 times in Buloke, 77 times in Hindmarsh, 50 times in West Wimmera and 114 times in Yarriambiack.
Across the five shires, no charges were laid 654 times.
In total 966 incidents remained unsolved at year’s end: 93 in each of Buloke and Hindmarsh, 564 in Horsham, 56 in West Wimmera and 160 in Yarriambiack.
A total of 63,105 criminal incidents were reported across western Victoria.
Statewide, inner Melbourne was the most crime-prone district, with 1545 incidents per 10,000 residents.