While Victoria's crime rate dropped by 12.6 per cent last year, Bendigo recorded a 4.5 per cent drop in overall crime, but a worrying 2.8 per cent increase in family violence reports that equate to a five-year high, with 2395 family incidents reported.

A complete central Victorian breakdown can be found here.

Family violence incidents also spiked in the Campaspe region by 23.2 per cent, with 872 incidents recorded.

There were almost 1400 less family violence orders breached than the previous year.

Centre for Non-Violence chief executive officer Margaret Augerinos said the increase in family violence incidents in the region highlighted that more needed to be done to prevent violence before it started.

In Bendigo, theft from a motor vehicle and criminal damage were among the top offences committed.

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Bendigo, Golden Square, Kangaroo Flat and Long Gully all saw incidents drop, while numbers rose in Eaglehawk.

Statewide there were fewer breaches of the chief health officer's directions, and reduced detections of drug trafficking, burglaries and robberies.

For the first time since the pandemic began, there was a decline in family violence in the state with more than 1000 less incidents reported year-on-year.

Ms Augerinos said the statistics highlighted the prevalence of family violence in regional communities.

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She said however, family violence was significantly under-reported and these numbers did not tell the full story.

Statewide, there was increased prevalence for females listed as Affected Family Members (AFMSs), with male respondents predominantly listed as the primary aggressor.

Reporting showed family violence and abuse mostly occurred within a current or past relationship and was committed by a male partner or ex-partner, within the home or a residence.

Some of the biggest increases that the data showed were the types of violence and abuse reported, including increased escalation and/or severity of violence and a significant rise in the number of female AFMs experiencing violence from their adolescent children.

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There were increases in breaches of intervention orders reported and increased co-occurrence of high-risk factors or "red flags" resulting in higher reporting of breaches and criminal incidents.

Ms Augerinos said the data reported in the most recent crime statistics reflect the experience of the service.

"We are seeing not only increased demand for all services, but also increasing complexity in the cases we are working with," she said.

"The level of demand on our services reflects the crime statistics data that shows increases in police reports in Greater Bendigo and Campaspe.

"Increased reports in our region can often reflect increased confidence from community that police will act and follow up reports of family violence and breaches of orders."

Watch the Victoria Police press conference here

While the overwhelming majority of offences decreased in 2021, non-family violence assaults increased by around 0.2 per cent in 2021, with non-family violence common assaults increasing by 678 offences and non-family violence serious assaults rising by 402 offences.

The number of non-family violence assaults in 2021 remained equivalent to pre-pandemic levels.

Police said there were a number of factors behind the increase in assaults, including disputes between parties known, such as neighbours and other acquaintances that were not family-related.

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