Vic Police ban phoned-in crime reports

Several Victorian police stations have been ordered to stop accepting complaints about certain crimes over the phone, leading to claims they are manipulating crime statistics. Superintendent Neil Paterson said in an email: “Given our extremely high offending rate around Theft from Motor Vehicle at present … I am of the view that reports for TFMV must be taken in person rather than received via telephone.” A VicPol spokeswoman said the policy would ensure that forensic evidence was gathered from the cars, but other police disagree. A senior officer told the Herald Sun: “This instruction is a blatant and obvious attempt to artificially drive down crime reporting by making it much more difficult to report crime.”