Senior Sergeant Darren McGrillen of Cobram Crime Investigation Unit said in June that Police would be undertaking a survey in Moira to seek feedback from the community on how they see their local police and where they can improve on the service Victoria Police provides the people in the Moira Shire.
Moira Police Sergeant John Higgins said the survey provided a lot of useful information that local police will now take on board for the betterment of the community.
“We thank every person who participated, the survey provided a revealing glimpse of public attitudes to police, community safety and police services,” Sgt Higgins said.
“The results indicate, people in Moira generally feel safe at home and when out in public spaces. Most people in Moira are respectful of their police and pleased with the assistance police provided them.
“The overwhelming theme from the survey was police visibility. People want to see police, on foot, on bikes and in vehicles patrolling their towns.
“We have listened to what people have said and acted. The addition of extra operational police in Moira, will enable us to provide more of a visible police presence.
“Members are being tasked to foot patrols of the retail areas of the towns and bike patrols will be seen in the coming months.
“We will be seeking further feedback in 12 months.
“To keep up to date with what local police are doing in Moira to address the key issues identified in the survey we encourage people to follow the Wangaratta EyeWatch Page.”
In grim crime figures released by Crime Statistics Agency earlier this year, for the year ending, March 31, 2020 showed overall the Moira Local Government Area (LGA) has experienced a massive 71% jump in annual criminal incidents since 2015.
In 2015 there were 1078 criminal incidents recorded for the period April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015 and in 2020 there were 1,844 incidents in the same 12-month period.
In that time incidents of theft have burglaries have risen sharply but also more alarming was the dramatic rise in family violence incidents. In 2015 there were 64 criminal incidents related to a breach of family violence and this figure has sharply increased to 164 in 2020.
In Yarrawonga alone, there was 377 criminal incidents recorded in the 2020 period, 149 more than the 228 incidents recorded in 2015.
In comparison to neighbouring LGAs criminal incidents were lower than Moira’s total of 1,844. The Wangaratta LGA had 1,754 incidents in 2020 while the Benalla LGA only had 940 and Indigo LGA 432.
The Victoria Police website has valuable crime prevention tips, party safe registration, firearms applications and forms and lots of other useful information for the community which Police encourage people to visit at police.vic.gov.au.
