Crime rate up more than 20 per cent

While it remains one of the safest suburbs in Melbourne, crime has increased by more than 20 per cent in Southbank, according to crime data released last month.

Some 2466 offences were recorded in postcode 3006 in 2014, comprising just fewer than 8 per cent of the 32,301 crimes recorded in the City of Melbourne.

Although the 2014 crime rate in Southbank is low, it had increased by 21 per cent on the previous year.

2014 marks a record spike in recorded crime in Southbank since 2010, which saw 2380 offences recorded, before declining to 2142 offences in 2011, 1993 in 2012 and 2161 in 2013.

Docklands, West Melbourne, Carlton North, East Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville and South Yarra all recorded less offences than Southbank, with Kensington the only suburb in the municipality to have had higher crime rates than Southbank in 2014.

But the CBD proved to be Melbourne’s major crime centre, recording 21,624 offences.

The statistics were released last month as part of the Crime Statistics Agency’s first quarterly report. The Crime Statistics Agency assumed the role of reporting crime statistics from Victoria Police on January 1.

While the statistics don’t provide breakdowns of the different types of crime in Southbank, they do show that the most common crime in the Melbourne Local Government Area (LGA) in 2014 was theft.

Station Commander at St Kilda Rd Police Station, Sen-Sgt Steve Bills said, while crimes against the person in Southbank had significantly declined, crimes against property continued to cause police headaches.

Sen-Sgt Bills has urged local residents to be more vigilant when it comes to leaving valuables in cars and securing their bicycles.

Despite being the most common crime in Southbank, theft offences in Melbourne are down to 9765 from 13,683 offences in 2012 and 10,284 offences in 2013.

Other common offences in the Melbourne LGA in 2014 included deception (4676 offences), disorderly and offensive conduct (3924 offences), breaches of orders (3312 offences) and assault and related offences (2308 offences).

Overall property and deception offences, which include theft, arson and bribery, dropped from 20,716 offences in 2012 to 17,569 offences in 2014.

Crimes against the person, which include homicide, sexual offences and assaults have remained stable, with 3648 offences recorded, almost the same as the 3644 offences recorded in 2012.

While it remains one of the safest suburbs in Melbourne, crime has increased by more than 20 per cent in Southbank, according to crime data released last month.

Some 2466 offences were recorded in postcode 3006 in 2014, comprising just fewer than 8 per cent of the 32,301 crimes recorded in the City of Melbourne.

Although the 2014 crime rate in Southbank is low, it had increased by 21 per cent on the previous year.

2014 marks a record spike in recorded crime in Southbank since 2010, which saw 2380 offences recorded, before declining to 2142 offences in 2011, 1993 in 2012 and 2161 in 2013.

Docklands, West Melbourne, Carlton North, East Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville and South Yarra all recorded less offences than Southbank, with Kensington the only suburb in the municipality to have had higher crime rates than Southbank in 2014.

But the CBD proved to be Melbourne’s major crime centre, recording 21,624 offences.

The statistics were released last month as part of the Crime Statistics Agency’s first quarterly report. The Crime Statistics Agency assumed the role of reporting crime statistics from Victoria Police on January 1.

While the statistics don’t provide breakdowns of the different types of crime in Southbank, they do show that the most common crime in the Melbourne Local Government Area (LGA) in 2014 was theft.

Station Commander at St Kilda Rd Police Station, Sen-Sgt Steve Bills said, while crimes against the person in Southbank had significantly declined, crimes against property continued to cause police headaches.

Sen-Sgt Bills has urged local residents to be more vigilant when it comes to leaving valuables in cars and securing their bicycles.

Despite being the most common crime in Southbank, theft offences in Melbourne are down to 9765 from 13,683 offences in 2012 and 10,284 offences in 2013.

Other common offences in the Melbourne LGA in 2014 included deception (4676 offences), disorderly and offensive conduct (3924 offences), breaches of orders (3312 offences) and assault and related offences (2308 offences).

Overall property and deception offences, which include theft, arson and bribery, dropped from 20,716 offences in 2012 to 17,569 offences in 2014.

Crimes against the person, which include homicide, sexual offences and assaults have remained stable, with 3648 offences recorded, almost the same as the 3644 offences recorded in 2012.