Police face questions at Wonthaggi forum

Local police asked residents to keep reporting suspicious behaviour at a recent local forum, as recorded offending across Bass Coast and South Gippsland continues to rise.

About 10 community members attended the Wonthaggi Town Hall on Friday, September 11, for the Bass Coast Neighbourhood Policing Forum.

The forum gave attendees the opportunity to question officers about issues like property crime, youth offending, road safety, police resources, family violence and more.

Figures presented at the forum showed 6297 offences were recorded across the Bass Coast police service area in the 12 months to March 2026, which was up 7.9 per cent from 5837 during the previous year.

And the latest Victoria Police Community Sentiment Survey found that the safety of property was the leading concern among local respondents, followed by safety in public places and drugs and alcohol.

Acting Superintendent Jarrad Dowswell said serious and violent crime had increased across Victoria, but Bass Coast and South Gippsland hadn’t experienced the same problems as other parts of the state.

He also said police wanted to shift their focus and spend more time preventing offending instead of simply responding after crimes had occurred.

“We’re here to serve you, the community,” Acting Superintendent Dowswell said.

“And if we don’t have your trust and confidence, it makes that job extremely difficult.”

Family violence was a topic discussed heavily.

The booklet provided at the forum shows 1331 family violence incidents were recorded across the police service area between April 2025 and March 2026, down 12.9 per cent from the previous 12-month period.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rod Findlay described domestic violence as a “scourge”, saying Victoria Police responded to more than 105,000 family violence incidents statewide last year, which is about one in every four minutes.

“Family violence response often starts with police, but I don’t believe long term the solution is with police,” he said.

He pointed to services like The Orange Door, along with intervention orders and court processes as important parts of helping victims establish safety away from abusive situations.

He said police powers are designed to separate people during a crisis and prevent the situation from becoming more dangerous.

Detective Sergeant Leigh Cole took the time to encourage residents to report thefts even when the value of the stolen property appeared to be minor, because that information could assist police in potentially identifying a wider offending pattern.

He also said that recording serial numbers and keeping an inventory of tools and other valuables are good habits, which can help recovered property be returned.

Leading Senior Constable Nick Carlson, from the Proactive Policing Unit, said police were working with young offenders and their families to get them back into education or employment.

Several local young people previously involved in serious offending had not reoffended after leaving youth detention, he said.

“Most of them have come out and not reoffended, which has actually been really good to see,” Leading Senior Constable Carlson said.

“A lot of those kids are now either back in school or they’re working.”

Senior Constable Bernard Jones from Highway Patrol said public reports were very helpful when directing its operations.

“We do really rely on that information coming through so we can plan a targeted response,” he said.