The numbers behind Bendigo's crime shift: assaults up, property offences falling, and a suburb drawing outsized attention

Assaults recorded by Victoria Police in the Greater Bendigo local government area rose 11 percent in the 12 months to March 2026, reaching 1,247 separate incidents, the highest figure the Crime Statistics Agency has logged for the region since comparable records began in 2014. At the same time, residential burglaries dropped 18 percent over the same period, continuing a five-year slide that investigators attribute partly to improved household security and partly to a contraction in the local drug market for stolen goods.

The numbers matter right now for a specific reason. Victoria's state government is mid-way through a $4.2 million rollout of its Community Safety Infrastructure Fund, and Bendigo is one of nine regional centres shortlisted for upgraded lighting, CCTV and after-hours crisis support. The funding decisions, expected by September 2026, will be shaped by exactly these agency statistics. Which suburbs get cameras, which intersections get better lighting, which outreach programs get staffed: the Crime Statistics Agency data is the scorecard.

Where the pressure is concentrated

Kangaroo Flat and Eaglehawk account for a disproportionate share of the assault figures. Kangaroo Flat recorded 214 assault incidents in the 12-month window, roughly 17 percent of the LGA total despite holding closer to 9 percent of Greater Bendigo's population of approximately 120,000. Eaglehawk added another 138. Both suburbs sit along the Calder Highway corridor, and both have been flagged in three consecutive quarterly reports by the Bendigo Safe Communities partnership, a coalition that links Bendigo Health, Victoria Police's Loddon Mallee division, and Bendigo Community Health Services, as requiring targeted early-intervention resourcing.

The Bendigo CBD itself tells a different story. Incidents on and around View Street and the Hargreaves Mall precinct were down 9 percent year-on-year, a figure the Bendigo Business Improvement District attributes partly to its pilot night-time economy safety officer program, which deployed two trained workers on Thursday through Saturday nights from October 2025. That program cost $180,000 for its first year and is currently being evaluated ahead of a potential 2027 renewal bid.

Family violence call-outs remain the single largest driver of police workload. Of those 1,247 assault incidents, Victoria Police records show that 61 percent, roughly 761 cases, carried a family violence classification. That share is consistent with statewide trends but sits above the Victorian regional average of 57 percent, a gap that Bendigo Community Health Services has been tracking since 2022. The service's Integrated Family Violence team on High Street handled 2,340 presentations in 2025-26, up from 1,980 the previous year.

What the vehicle theft rebound signals

One category bucking the property-crime decline is motor vehicle theft, which jumped 23 percent to 312 incidents, the sharpest single-year increase since 2019. Investigators in the Loddon Mallee division have linked a portion of those thefts to an organised group operating across a triangle that includes Bendigo, Castlemaine and Maryborough, and at least four matters are before the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Peel Street following arrests made in May. Owners of older model Holden Commodores and Toyota HiLuxes have been specifically advised to use steering-wheel locks, as both models feature in more than 40 percent of the stolen-vehicle reports.

For residents, the practical takeaway from the data package is geographic. If you live in Kangaroo Flat or Eaglehawk, the Bendigo Safe Communities partnership runs free home-safety assessments through its Safer Homes program, bookings open via Bendigo Community Health Services on High Street. The program fitted deadbolts and security screens in 94 properties last financial year at no cost to residents who met the income threshold. The next round of assessments opens for applications on July 14. For business owners in the CBD, the Bendigo Business Improvement District is accepting expressions of interest in a new collective CCTV network before July 31, a scheme that, if funded, would link privately owned cameras to a shared monitoring hub at the Bendigo Police Station on Hargreaves Street.