Crime is down in the south-west but the region's new superintendent says it doesn't mean police will take their foot off the pedal.
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Crime Statistics Agency data released this week revealed overall crime in south-west Victoria dropped more than three per cent in the 12 months to June 2020.
The Standard looked at the data for the region's six local government areas.
Crime spiralled downward in Warrnambool (18 per cent) and Southern Grampians (12 per cent) but soared in other parts of the region.
Glenelg jumped 21 per cent, Corangamite 17 per cent, Colac-Otway 10 and Moyne three.
Superintendent Martin Hardy, whose patch covers the police service areas in all the LGAs except Colac-Otway, said the overall crime rate was the lowest it had been in four years.
"While that might be related to COVID and the change in circumstances with people staying home, we do know there has been a lot of targeted police work which is being reflected in these results which is pleasing," he said.
Across the region, criminal damage was the most common offence recorded in the 12-month period, followed by theft.
The top locations the crimes occurred were at home, on the street, at retail stores and on farmland.
Superintendent Hardy said there was "no real trend in criminal damage".
He said the offence could vary from an object broken at home during a family violence incident, to random damage to a fence.
"A lot of criminal damage-type offences are very random and there's no real trend but it highlights the necessity for vigilance and to report any suspicious behaviour," Superintendent Hardy said.
Superintendent Hardy said the introduction of online reporting and the Police Assistance Line made it easier for people to report crimes that might not ordinarily have been reported.
"Previously unreported matters are coming to light, particularly with lower-level offending where people might ordinarily have thought 'I'm not going to bother with the police'," he said.
Warrnambool saw a drop in deception offences (21 per cent), drugs (15 per cent) and offences against a person (13 per cent).
Superintendent Hardy said local police were "targeting specific drug offenders and running quite successful major operations", such as Operation Abalone, which allegedly uncovered a Warrnambool illicit drug world involving single deals of $40,000.
And while the superintendent was pleased with the results, he said there was no time to take the "foot off the pedal".
"There are still problems that we need to address," he said.
"You are always going to have peaks and troughs in the data but we are always committing to driving home successful policing."
Family violence incidents dropped nearly 14 per cent in Warrnambool, eight per cent in colac and six per cent in Southern Grampians.
But it increased in Moyne (25 per cent), Glenelg (16) and Corangamite (12).
Superintendent Hardy said a number of family violence-related arrests had been made during Operation Ribbon, a state-wide campaign aimed at keeping family violence perpetrators in sight during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Our response in anticipation to family violence during the pandemic has been quite successful, with family violence detectives and other units targeting known recidivist offenders and victims in the western region," he said.
Superintendent Hardy said the also data showed an increase in sexual offences in some parts of the south-west, some of which he said were historical offences being reported in the past 12 months.
He said no matter how long ago the alleged offence occurred, police would investigate the allegations and lay charges when necessary.
The superintendent said stalking, harassment and threatening offences also "slightly increased" due to social media trends and "cyber threatening".
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