Data from the Crime Statistics Agency shows that in the year to September 2023, the total number of criminal incidents increased marginally by 0.3 per cent to 5619 in 2023, up from 5601 the year before, but the rate of crime fell.
Greater Shepparton’s crime rate of 8072.5 incidents per 100,000 people was higher than the state rate of 7505.4 but was down a little from the 8126.2 recorded the previous year.
Shepparton accounted for 3943 of the municipality’s criminal incidents, Mooroopna 657, Kialla 283, Tatura 175 and Shepparton North 57.
The most likely location for a criminal incident was in the home (1689), followed by on the street (994), a driveway or carport (256), a court (252) and a retail location (202).
Overall crimes against the person decreased from 1111 to 1038 from the previous 12 months, but within that category, the number of homicides and related offences, which include murder, attempted murder, accessory or conspiracy to murder, manslaughter and driving causing death, increased to seven — up from five — and reports of abduction (10 to September 2023 compared to four in the previous 12 months), robbery (12/13) and blackmail and extortion (8/0), all increased from 2022 figures.
Assaults (665/718), sexual offences (110/130), stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour (120/126) and dangerous and negligent acts endangering people (105/116) were all down on the previous year, though.
Total property and deception offences rose from 2366 in September 2022 to 2552 in 2023.
Thefts accounted for most of those reports, 1205, up from 1149 the previous year.
Burglaries (577/461) also surged, while property damage incidences (492/546) fell.
Overall, drug incidents increased over the 12 months, from 261 to 289, with drug use and possession (176), drug dealing and trafficking (63) and cultivation or the manufacture of drugs (49) the most commonly reported offences.
The top five principal offence subgroups for the municipality were:
- Breach family violence order 574
- Criminal damage 475
- Breach bail conditions 475
- Steal from a motor vehicle 442
- Other theft 355
Of the reported offences in Greater Shepparton, charges have been laid in 41.6 per cent of the total criminal incidents (2335), but 40 per cent (2247) remain unsolved, and in 18.5 per cent (1037) of cases, no charges were laid.
The number of charges laid was down on the 2022 figure of 2785.
Statewide, the CSA reported that the rate of recorded offences increased by 4.9 per cent to 7505.4 per 100,000 Victorians, while the overall number of offences increased by 7.6 per cent to 510,415.
Although property and deception offences had the largest increase in the past 12 months, up 14.3 per cent or 34,983 to 278,803 incidents, they remained below the record peak of 325,984 in 2016 and below pre-COVID numbers.
The main driver of the increases was theft, up 22,683 to 167,099 offences, with stealing from a retail store the most significant contributor, up 7308 to 26,229 — the highest on record.
The number of criminal incidents increased by 9.8 per cent, or 33,578, to 376,482 incidents.
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