Thousands of family violence charges have been laid across several Melbourne suburbs since the start of 2024 in what police describe as a “major blitz” in the Victorian capital.
Alleged offenders have been arrested almost 2700 times across Cardinia, Casey, Frankston, Greater Dandenong, and the Mornington Peninsula.
And more than 7500 charges have been laid.
In the year ending March 2024, Casey recorded the highest number of family violence-related offences in Victoria (5564 incidents), while Frankston (3010) ranks sixth in the state.
Dandenong (2613) is in tenth place, while the Mornington Peninsula (2138) was 13th. Cardinia (1669) ranks 25th in Victoria.
Together, these five suburbs accounted for more than 70 per cent of family violence incidents across south-east Melbourne.
Among those arrested was a 41-year-old woman charged with allegedly stabbing of a 74-year-old woman in February, inflicting non-life-threatening injuries.
A 42-year-old man was charged after he, allegedly, stabbed a 70-year-old male family member and assaulted a 73-year-old female family member.
In a separate incident, a 42-year-old man was arrested after allegedly stabbing a woman and attacking a teenage child in the presence of two younger children.
An off-duty nurse helped provide first aid.
The alleged victim sustained “life-changing injuries”, police said.
In the year ending March 2024, family violence reported to police increased by three per cent, with almost 96,000 incidents recorded.
Inspector Rod Maroney said the arrests in 2024 so far added up to 17 day, or one every 1.5 hours.
“Almost half of our workload relates to family violence, and we have made an enormous number of arrests this year,” he said.
Inspector Terry Rowlands said while the increase in family violence reports might sound “disheartening”, it also showed more people were able to access help.
“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.
