POLICE in Wyndham have been forced to set up a specialised burglary unit following a substantial rise in home burglaries.

The latest police statistics, released last week, showed that residential burglaries in Wyndham rose by nearly 14 per cent, from 627 to 713 per 100,000 population for the 12 months from January to December 2009.

Alarmingly, assaults increased by a staggering 35.9 per cent, but Wyndham Inspector Bill Weatherly said this was attributed to an increase of reporting of domestic violence and assaults reported from prisons within the municipality.

Overall crime in Wyndham dropped by 1.4 per cent.

Robbery continues to be a concern after it increased by 18.9 per cent, but these were on low numbers, with raw data indicating there had been just nine additional incidents compared to the same period in 2008.

“Family Violence reporting has increased and this shows the great work the Wyndham Family Violence Unit is doing, community members now have the confidence to report domestic violence,” Inspector Weatherly said.

“Street assaults are also on the increase and through Operation WAG we are addressing the issue. The assaults are random and there is no pattern. Operation WAG has been introduced to address anti-social behaviour in Wyndham.”

Insp Weatherly said Werribee CIU had introduced a new burglary unit to address the increase in that category of crime.

“Wyndham is the fastest growing area in Victoria with some 8,000 new residents settling in the area per year, new houses are being occupied at an amazing rate,” he said.

Thefts surrounding motor vehicles have decreased; theft from a vehicle is down 16.7 per cent and theft of a vehicle is down 7.9 per cent.