Crime within the boundaries of Northern Grampians Shire fell by almost 22 per cent in the 12 months to December, the best result in western Victoria.
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The drop was also reflected in the rate of crimes against the person, crimes against property and public order and security offences.
The drug offence rate per 100,000 residents saw a 67 per cent increase in the same time period, driven largely by the number of low-level drug use and possession offences.
The rates of more serious offences of drug cultivation, manufacture and dealing saw declines of between 32 and 43 per cent in the 12 months to December.
The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency’s report this month showed offences of all types occurred at a rate of 7452 per 100,000 people compared with a rate of 8159 for the 12 moths to December 2016.
However, the municipality is still short of its best recent result, which was a crime rate of 5475 offences in 2012.
Some of the worst performing municipalities in western Victoria, such as Ararat, Yarrimabiack, Warrnambool and Swan Hill, saw overall increases in the number of recorded criminal incidents of between 6.1 and 8.6 per cent.
The average municipality in western Victoria saw a 4.6 per cent decrease in recorded criminal incidents in the 12 months to December.
Northern Grampians Local Area Commander Paul Bertoncello was not available for comment before publication deadline.
Insp Bertoncello did release a statement welcoming a “significant decrease” in crime of 6.1 per cent aggregated across the Ararat and Northern Grampians Police Service Area.
"This is a fantastic result and can be attributed to the hard work and coordinated approach of police in a variety of roles including: general duties members; crime investigators; proactive unit members; and intelligence practitioners,” he said.
“We still have work to do in a number of areas across the Police Service Area, but we take pride in what we've been able to achieve over the past 12 months.
“We'll be using this as motivation to strive for further community safety outcomes through 2018.”
Stawell’s violent crime rate was above that of regional centres such as Ballarat and Greater Geelong but its property crime rate was considerably lower.