This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/28/victorias-rate-surges-with-rises-in-drug-offences-and-family-violence
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Victoria's crime rate surges with rises in drug offences and family violence | Victoria's crime rate surges with rises in drug offences and family violence |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A dramatic rise in family violence intervention order breaches and drug offences helped push Victoria's crime rate up by 5% in the past 12 months. | |
| Drug offences were up by 15.5% per 100,000 people, while other crimes such as family violence intervention order breaches surged 19%, figures released on Wednesday showed. | |
| Deputy commissioner Lucinda Nolan said fraud had also seen a big rise and called for tap-and-go credit cards to be scrapped. | |
| The number of crimes classified as deceptions showed a rise of 45% — an increase of around 11,600 offences. | |
| Nolan said tap-and-go credit cards were being stolen and used for a number of small transactions, often before owners were aware they had been robbed. | |
| "From a personal perspective, I'd like to see them scrapped," she told reporters. "I do understand that there are business models, but surely there are more security measures that can be brought in." | |
| Victorian police minister Kim Wells said banks needed to work harder to reduce tap-and-go fraud. | |
| "The banks simply need to do more to crack down on this. This is just simply not good enough, and it's not good enough for the banks to say, 'Oh, we'll cover the costs. Don't worry about it'," he said. | |
| The number of crimes committed across the state in the year to March was up 7% in the past year to 434,497. The rate is up by 5% per 100,000 people, according to the police figures. | |
| Drug offences were up by 15.5% per 100,000 people, while other crimes such as family violence intervention order breaches surged 19%. | Drug offences were up by 15.5% per 100,000 people, while other crimes such as family violence intervention order breaches surged 19%. |
| Nolan said police were making a targeted effort to ensure intervention orders and bail conditions were adhered to. | |
| "It clearly displays a very low tolerance by Victoria police about any breaches," she said. | |
| Crimes against the person increased by 0.7%, with a 0.3% increase in assaults. | Crimes against the person increased by 0.7%, with a 0.3% increase in assaults. |
| However, there was a 12.7% drop in the number of robberies committed, as well as decreases in property damage, residential burglaries and theft from motor vehicles. | However, there was a 12.7% drop in the number of robberies committed, as well as decreases in property damage, residential burglaries and theft from motor vehicles. |