Requesting Data from the Crime Statistics Agency
The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) provides quarterly releases of data on the CSA website (External link). This includes information at the local government area and postcode/suburb level. More information is available via the Crime by Location (External link) webpage.
If you require data relating to a more localised area however, you will need to make a request to the CSA to prepare a data report for you. We have prepared this resource document to assist you refine your request for CSA data that is not publicly available.
Information requested will be provided subject to the CSA data confidentiality policy (External link). Some data may require aggregation where the numbers are too small. Data will be aggregated to the lowest level possible under this policy.
Requests that take 2 hours or more to complete may be subject to the CSA data consultancy fees and charges (External link).
When requesting the CSA extract localised data that is not publicly available, please consider the following:
- Provide the reference period for the data required (for example financial year data, most recent data or specific implementation time periods)
- Indicate which data population you require – Criminal Incidents, Recorded Offences, Alleged Offender Incidents, Victim Reports or Family Incidents
- Geography – do you require this for a local government area, postcode or suburb (check the Crime by Location (External link) webpage). If you require a smaller geographic boundary, please email a request and ensure that you have included a map that clearly outlines the borders that you would like data mapped for
- Are there particular offence types (External link) that you are interested in?
- Are you interested in crimes that have occurred in particular locations (External link) (eg residential or community)?
- Consider if you are interested in particular times of the day.
- If you are interested in data about people - Alleged Offender Incidents, Victim Reports or Family Incidents – make sure you indicate what age groups and sex you require.
Once you have the information ready, please email your request detailing the specifications for the information you require to info@crimestatistics.vic.gov.au (External link). Please ensure that you provide the CSA with sufficient time to manually extract the data you have requested.
The CSA team will be in touch to advise whether they can accommodate your requirements and whether a cost may be incurred.