MELBOURNE, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Crime in Victoria in 2015 rose 12.4 percent on the previous year with theft accounting for one in three crimes.
Statistics released on Thursday by the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) revealed that 519,130 crimes were committed in the state from April 2015 through March 2016, up from 461,796 crimes the previous year.
The CSA attributed the jump mostly to a dramatic increase in property-related offenses in 2015.
Theft, including theft of and from cars, accounted for a third of all crimes committed in 2015 with 171,531 reported instances, a 16.1 percent increase on 2014, almost half of which were committed by people between the ages of 20 and 34.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the increase in vehicle-related theft was gang related.
"There certainly are organized groups involved and the taskforces certainly are focusing on those particular groups and a lot of that, the organized groups are more into the theft for profit, so they're stealing cars and then on-selling them," Ashton told the ABC.
"We're working with the bodies that are heavily involved in assessing the information around this, like the Motor Theft Reduction Council, working with them and their data as well."
"We're certainly hearing things that cause us concern about young people thinking it's better to steal than to earn."
There was also a significant spike in assault, abduction, burglary, weapon and drug-related crimes with weapons and explosive offenses increasing by 18.5 percent.
The greater Dandenong area, in Melbourne's southeast, recorded the highest increase in crime with a 24.1 percent jump.
Disorderly and offensive conduct offenses were the only category to show a significant fall, dropping from 20,530 instances in 2014 to 17,328 offences in 2015, a 15.6 percent drop.
Crimes committed per 100,000 people also grew by 10.3 percent from 7,777 in 2014 to 8,575 in 2015.
