Burglary, theft and arson offences are on the rise in Victoria but the overall crime rate remains below pre-pandemic levels.
The state's latest crime statistics show there was a 5.7 per cent rise in offences for the year ending June 30.
Property and deception offences including theft, burglary and arson jumped by 15.6 per cent over the 12-month period.
But there were still fewer crimes committed than before the COVID-19 pandemic, with 506,408 offences in the past year compared to 513,470 in 2019.
"When factoring in population growth, overall crime is at its second lowest levels in the past decade," Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson said.
"While this is positive, there are a number of areas of concern that Victoria Police will continue to focus on, including youth crime, home burglaries, car thefts, and firearm-related violence."
Offenders aged 10 to 24 were responsible for 46,301 incidents over the past 12 months, an increase of 8.1 per cent on the previous year.
Overall offending for that age group remained below pre-pandemic levels but the types of crimes were more serious, Mr Paterson said.
More 14 to 17-year-olds committed assaults (up 724), burglaries (up 671) and car thefts (up 684) in 2023 than they did before the pandemic.
"There remains a core group of around 290 recidivist youth offenders who are the main challenge," Mr Paterson said.
"Police made 1630 youth gang arrests over the past year and this will continue as we hold anyone who compromises community safety accountable."
