The cost-of-living crisis is being partly blamed for escalating rates of crime across Victoria. Thefts have risen to their highest rate in close to a decade, among more than half-a-million criminal incidents recorded in the year to September. Police say they’re arresting more people than ever, but the stark figures have renewed calls for a change in approach.
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00:00Last month, thieves targeted homes on this quiet Bayside street.
00:08They entered Richard's property and stole two cars while his family slept.
00:13The first that we heard of it was the police knocking at the door.
00:17It was the second time his home had been targeted in the space of a year.
00:22The back-to-back thefts disrupting his life and leaving his family shaken.
00:27Mentally, it hits the household as well.
00:30I mean, everyone's a little bit jumpy, a bit edgy.
00:34You don't sleep quite as well as you used to.
00:36The rate of car thefts per 100,000 people has surged to an eight-year high, according
00:42to new crime statistics agency data.
00:44Nearly 26,000 vehicles were stolen over the 12 months to September.
00:50And we know that the warmer months ahead are some of the peak periods we see for the theft
00:55of cars and also breaking into houses.
00:58Stealing from cars was the most common offence, up 26%.
01:02That was followed by breaches of family violence orders, up 12%.
01:07Third on the list was other types of theft, like petrol theft, then criminal damage and
01:12stealing from shops.
01:14When there are higher cost of living pressures, higher interest rates, that is directly linked
01:20to crime rates.
01:21We are not doing our job as well as we should.
01:23We are not reducing crime to the extent that we could if we had those resources at the
01:28front line.
01:30Youth crime also increased by more than 13% year on year, driven in part by repeat offenders.
01:37It is so important that we make the connections, find those young people within their communities
01:42that are getting involved in repeat offending and then make the connection, teach them a
01:48different way.
01:50Officers mounting on the government to find a solution.