Crime statistics are always a bit of a mixed bag.
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The rate at which some offences occur varies from one 12-month period to the next, though are still a decent guide as to how well we are functioning as a community.
For some years, the reporting rate for domestic violence incidents, for example, has been much higher than in decades past.
That doesn't mean the rate of such violence - as abhorrent and endemic as it is - has become more prevalent than one or two generations ago.
As police and a wide variety of experts and agencies have often pointed out, societal changes have resulted in reports being made where once a cloak of shame would have prevented that from happening.
On the other end of the offending spectrum you have those involving property. Given stigma plays no role, these figures can provide more of a snapshot of long-term trends.
Some of the latest statistics for Wodonga bear this out, with overall crime jumping by a substantial 19 per cent.
Much of that has been as a result of thefts from cars - 381 incidents in the year to March, compared with 243 in the previous batch of Crime Statistics Agency data.
Criminal damage figures highly, as do theft and home burglaries.
These type of crimes can be targeted with a mix of common sense, education and through neighbours looking out for each other.
For instance, take the time to not leave valuables on display in your car, which of course has to always be locked.
The remedies for domestic violence though are not so easy to grasp. Communities right across Australia have been shocked in recent times by just how often women have been murdered by male partners and ex-partners.
As Acting Deputy Commissioner Brett Curran points out, "the response to family violence remains a critical priority for Victoria Police".
It's crucial that our community works to effect change to ensure the incidence of domestic violence is addressed and reduced in a very real way.
If we don't, so many lives - mainly women - will continue to be lost or irrevocably damaged.
