General News
24 March, 2026
Victoria Police statistics show a rise in vehicle, retail theft throughout 2025
New data from Victoria Police shows a rise in theft across the state during 2025, with local police stating the Central Goldfields as not being exempt from parts of this trend.
According to these figures, there were 630,592 criminal offences recorded in Victoria last year, an increase of 25,250, or 4.2 percent.
The crime rate, which factors in population growth, rose by 2.4 percent (8885.5 offences per 100,000 people).
However, the same analysis forecasts any major reduction in overall crime is unlikely to be imminent, given ongoing issues such as the cost of living, recidivism, and the increased use of technology in offending. As a result, certain themes soared to prevelance in 2025.
Theft from a motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle and retail theft now account for a third of all criminal offending across the state.
With the challenging financial environment, Victoria Police said there are no indications these crimes will reduce. Car thefts were at their highest levels since 2001, with over 32,000 cars stolen last year.
Victoria Police said the number of cars being stolen has escalated markedly over the past three years, rising by 96.9 percent. This has directly coincided with a surge in car thieves using key mimicking or cloning technology to override car security systems, with Victoria Police intelligence suggesting between 30 and 40 percent of all cars are now stolen in this manner.
Last year, police seized around 800 of these devices across the state.
Maryborough Police Acting Senior Sergeant Matthew Ormston said vehicle theft has been a less prevelant occurance locally, but often influenced by different factors.
“It actually can fall into people being opportunistic as well. You might have a spate of those sorts of crime scenes in one particular area at one time over 12 months and that increases the statistics,” he said.
There were also 41,547 retail theft offences last year, an increase of 2,393 offences or 6.1 percent, resulting in a deployment of police to the state’s major shopping precincts.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency, the Central Goldfields saw 91 recorded thefts from a retail store. By comparison, 62 were recorded in the previous year.
Sgt Ormston said local police have been conscious of retail theft in the region, and agree the crime has correlated with economic climate.
“It’s definitely something we have been aware of as an organisation, one hundred percent,” he said.
“Retail theft does spike, especially when we have got periods of financial issues across society, that is definitely something that we do see.”
Victoria Police added the number aggravated home burglaries reduced for the first time since 2020, falling by 4.1 percent (7151 offences, down from 7458).
While this is positive, police said they will be commencing ongoing measures to achieve sustainable reductions in break-ins.
“When it comes to burglaries, we have had a spike around sporting clubs, we have been trying to mitigate the risks around that, but that is something that has been going on,” Sgt Ormston said.
Victoria Police said they are undertaking significant organi-sational change to increase the amount of time police officers are spending in the community preventing crime.
This includes releasing officers from administrative duties such as staffing reception counters, as well as enhancing the technology supporting police.
However, Sgt Ormston said public presence is already fundamental with Maryborough Police.
“We are always trying to make sure we are getting out in the public as much as we can, it’s one of the drivers we are trying to do. I think it will be an ongoing task that we try and focus on for the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.
Regardless, Sgt Ormston said local police wish to be made aware of any crime when it happens, particularly regarding non emergencies.
“Whether it’s been damage to the house, damage to a property, or something that has happened in the past, they can call the police assistance line,” he said.
“Any information or intel that may not be a crime as such, or might be something that one might think it would be of interest to us, they can always call crime stoppers, it’s all about putting the puzzle pieces together to work out what may be a link to something else bigger.”