Crime is up in Ballarat, but so is the level of reporting

Over the same period to March 31 last year, the jump was closer to five per cent.

Latest data from the Crime Statistics Agency also showed the suburbs generating the most police reports were Ballarat Central (1717), Wendouree (1228), Sebastopol (815), Alfredton (459) and Ballarat East (382).

All of them made the top five in 2022 as well - but only Alfredton and Ballarat East had recorded a drop in known criminal incidents.

The figures showed the most common type of incident across the council area was theft from motor vehicles - at 1287 - a marginal drop on the 1294 recorded the year before.

The second most prevalent criminal incident was breach of a family violence order, which rose dramatically to 727 (up from 569). Criminal damage was down in Ballarat, with 651 in the latest period, compared to 709.

But not all reports of criminal incidents are treated as an offence.

Of those that were, 45 per cent resulted in an arrest or summons to court - while 44 per cent remained unsolved.

When it came to alleged offenders within the council area, 800 were women and 2713 - or more than three times as many - were men.

The most common offender age group, year after year, was people aged 18-24 (790).

The number of minors rose to 384, compared to 278.

During the pandemic that figure was much higher, with children aged 0-17 alleged to have been involved in 412 Ballarat incidents.

Go back a year to 2020 and it was even worse at 543. The issue with minors peaked in 2016 with a whopping 809.

Disturbingly, 190 incidents involved people allegedly committing firearms and explosives offences.

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It was the first time it had figured among the top five Ballarat offences.

Theft has topped that list every year since the agency began in 2014.

So what has been driving this trend?

More people in Ballarat are coming forward to report. There's been a 5 per cent jump in victim reports across Ballarat (6425 compared to 6089).

The biggest group of victims visiting or calling police are young adults aged 25 to 34 (1047).

The next largest group reporting crime were those over 55 (885), followed by youth under-24 (848).

The vast majority - every year - are victims reporting theft (2104) - and this figure has stayed stable.

Victims reporting sexual offences also remain within Ballarat's top five, with the latest data indicating 145 people came forward in Ballarat in the year to the end of March - down from 183.

When it came to family violence the number of incidents remained relatively stable at 2161 - which was up just 0.6 per cent.

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