22 September 2020
The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) has today released a research paper entitled "Police-recorded crime trends in Victoria during the COVID-19 pandemic". The paper examines trends in criminal offences and family violence incidents to 30 June 2020, focusing on comparing the period from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 with the same period in 2019.
The research found that while the overall number of offences recorded between April and June 2020 was similar to the number recorded during the same period in 2019, in 2020 there were decreases in the number of property and deception offences recorded and small increases in the number of drug and justice procedures offences recorded.
Between April and June 2020 there was a 19% decrease in the number of non-family violence related serious assaults, a 24% decrease in burglary/break and enter offences, and a 28% decrease in shop steal offences compared with the same period last year.
To 30 June 2020, 6,062 offences have been recorded by police for breaches of COVID-19-related restrictions. One in four offenders recorded for breaching COVID-19 restrictions were female, while the average age was 29.5 years old.
The paper identified that the number of family violence incidents recorded in May and June 2020 was significantly higher than what would be expected based on trends over the past five years.
Continuing to monitor volumes of family violence incidents recorded throughout the pandemic and triangulating these with other family violence related indicators is paramount to ensuring victim safety.
The paper Police-recorded crime trends in Victoria during the COVID-19 pandemic is available here.
