Crime up across Brunswick area
Increase was largest in Brunswick West
Mark Phillips
Friday, October 4, 2024
CRIME in Brunswick West has risen to a decade-long high following a spike in property related incidents including thefts and burglaries.
The increase in Brunswick West was the main reason why overall crime in the three postcodes that make up the Brunswick area – 3055, 3056 and 3057 – grew over the 12 months ending on June 30.
Overall, incidents of crime recorded by the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency rose by 3.9% in the three suburbs, continuing an upward trend since the end of the Covid pandemic, although crime has not reached pre-pandemic levels yet apart from Brunswick West. Crime fell during the two years of the pandemic, partly due to the lockdown restrictions on movement and curfews.
With 4029 incidents reported, this was the highest crime rate in the three Brunswick suburbs combined since 2016, although the increase was well below that for Victoria, which saw crime rise by 10.7%.
Crime was almost stagnant in Brunswick (postcode 3056) with 2283 reported incidents, although at 8.3 incidents per 100 people, it is higher than the statewide average of 5.9.
Vandalism and graffiti in the suburb fell by about 14%, but shoplifting increased by 25.5%, and the number of bicycles stolen rose by 7%. Thefts from (+22%) and of (+36.8%) motor vehicles were both up, while assaults were virtually unchanged.
Crime in Brunswick at a glance
Total criminal incidents
+3.9%
compared to previous year
2023
3877
2024
4029
Source: Victorian Crime Statistics Agency
Total crime incidents reported for year ending June 30; sorted by postcode. Click on image to see it full size.
But in Brunswick West (postcode 3055), crime increased by 16.4% to 945 incidents reported to police last year, or six for every 100 people. That is well above the pre-pandemic peak of 855 in 2018.
Crime rose in most categories in the suburb, including an 80% increase in motor vehicle thefts, 50% increase in criminal damage, 46.4% increase in house burglaries and 45.3% increase in thefts from cars.
However, assaults in Brunswick West fell by 22%.
Brunswick East (postcode 3057) has both the lowest total number of crimes of the three suburbs (801 last year) and lowest crime rate per 100 people (5.2).
Burglaries in the suburb rose by 34%, while vandalism and graffiti were up by 34.5%. Bicycle thefts rose by 13.2% but thefts from cars fell by 12%.
Across all three suburbs, drug-related crimes fell by 15.8% to 64, while family violence crimes, including breaches of family violence orders, fell by 23.1% to 200, with the largest decline in Brunswick East.
Brunswick was the suburb with the highest number of crimes of in the City of Merri-bek, followed by Coburg (2004) and Glenroy (1454). Across the entire city, crime rose by 9.2% to 10,683 incidents with stealing from a motor vehicle the most common crime.
Support independent local journalism
We are an independent hyperlocal news organisation owned and run by the people in your community. With your support, we can continue to produce unique and valuable local journalism for Brunswick and the inner north of Melbourne.