Figures released this week by the Crime Statistics Agency showed the number of incidents dropped from 648 in 2018-19 to 592 for the 12 months to the end of June.
Last year the number of incidents rose from 423 to 648.
Family violence incidents dropped 26 per cent, from 273 the previous year to 202 in 2019-20.
Of this year’s 592 criminal incidents, 346 occurred in Kerang, 97 in Cohuna, 38 in Koondrook, 14 in Tragowel and 11 in Leitchville.
The main offence types were breaching family violence orders (57), criminal damage (50), other theft (50), breaching bail conditions (43), and non-residential aggravated burglary (32).
Over 52 per cent of the incidents resulted in arrest and summons, with 17.8 per cent dealt with in another way and 23.4 per cent listed as unsolved.
In the category of offences recorded, which reflects the fact that a number of offences may be recorded in connection with a criminal incident, the overall figure for the shire was 775 offences, which was a 13.5 per cent drop on last year’s 896.
The top five types of offences were breaching family violence orders (100), criminal damage (65), other theft (65), breaching bail conditions (46) and drug possession (37).
Swan Hill police service area local area commander Brian Hanson said COVID-19 restrictions were a significant factor in the reduction.
“Having recently worked a night shift, there’s really no movement around after dark very much at all, so people were pretty much keeping to their own devices,” Senior Sergeant Hanson said.
“That’s certainly one factor that’s contributed to the reduction that we’re seeing.”
He also pointed to the hard work and focused activity of local police.
“I know we’ve injected a lot of resources into the regions,” he said.
“There are a lot of localised operations — I reckon every month we’ve got some sort of specialised operation going on, whether it be for shop stealing, theft from motor cars, assault down the street or anti-social behavior, which can lead to criminal offences.
“Hopefully that visibility has played a part in this, but you just can’t take away the impact the COVID restrictions have had on the community, really.”
For Victoria overall, the picture was different, with the number of criminal incidents increasing by 5.6 per cent, or 21,805 incidents to 407,768 — the highest on record.
Commentators attributed that change also to the effects of the pandemic, with more than 6000 breaches of new COVID-19 restrictions recorded around the state to June 30.
In Gannawarra, only 28 coronavirus-related breaches were recorded, 11 in April and 18 in May.
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Criminal incidents 2019 2020 percentage change
Gannawarra 648 592 8.6%
Swan Hill 1844 1760 -4.6%
Buloke 203 281 +38.4%
Loddon 377 366 -2.9%
Campaspe 3017 2658 11.9%
