FAMILY violence offenders in Frankston have been targeted by a Victoria Police operation this year.
Victoria Police has arrested 2700 family violence offenders between January and June this year, and has charged them with more than 7500 offences. It says the arrests are the result of a “major police blitz” across the Frankston, Greater Dandenong, Mornington Peninsula, Cardinia, and Casey areas. More than 70 per cent of family violence incidents in the south-eastern suburbs of Victoria occurred in those places.
Frankston was ranked sixth out of 79 Victorian local government areas for number of family violences offences in the year ending March 2024. Casey was ranked first, Dandenong 10th, and the Mornington Peninsula 13th. Among the arrests made this year are a 41-year-old woman charged over the alleged stabbing of a 74-year-old woman known to her in February. A 42-year-old man was charged this year after he allegedly stabbed a 70-year-old male family member, before assaulting a 73-year-old female family member. A 42-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stabbing a woman and assaulting a teenage child in the presence of two younger children. In March, a man was arrested for allegedly strangling his partner in front of her primary school-aged child.
Victoria Police Greater Dandenong specialist investigation and support inspector Rod Maroney said that police had arrested a family violence offender “every hour-and-a-half” in 2024. “Almost half of our workload relates to family violence, and we have made an enormous number of arrests this year. More than 7,500 charges laid against perpetrators shows just how seriously we treat family violence. That is an average of 17 arrests every day,” he said.
Victoria Police Mornington Peninsula inspector Terry Rowlands said “while more family reports may sound disheartening, we’re encouraged that it means more people can access help and police have an opportunity to intervene and prevent further harm.” “We also know the amount of proactive work that family violence detectives are undertaking each day, such as knocking on the doors of known perpetrators and victims, is identifying offending that would otherwise go undetected,” he said.
For family violence support contact Safe Steps at 1800 015 188 or email safesteps@safesteps.org.au. In an emergency call 000.