The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) has today released a spotlight on long-term Victorian crime trends in Property and deception-related offences.
In the last 16 years, Victorian crime statistics show an increasing trend for all offences. While the proportion of Property and deception-related offences has decreased over time, in the last 12 months the overall recorded crime offence counts have been driven down by the dramatic decrease in Property and deception offences. The recent decline in Victorian recorded crime coincides with COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions, possibly reflecting changes in guardianship of property as people were at home more often and mobility was reduced, changing criminal offending opportunities for some crime types. These decreases were especially evident in the acquisitive offence types, Property and Deception-related offences.
The overall decrease acquisitive crime types in the last 12 months was driven by Theft and Burglary/Break and enter offences. When exploring the types of property items stolen it was evident that some items started to appear less in crime records as they were replaced by other devices, for example computers with laptops/tablets and the decline in theft of photographic equipment as other devices have taken on the role of cameras. And others appeared to decrease as they were replaced with other items that are carried on the person rather than stored at home, for example decreases in photographic equipment, CD players and MPS players/iPods.
The spotlight Long-term trends in Property and deception crimes in Victoria is available here.