Victoria is experiencing a crime wave, with the number of criminal incidents rising to their highest level on record.
The federal opposition leader recently went as far as to label Melbourne Australia's "crime capital" .
This followed incidents including a brawl involving machetes at a Melbourne shopping centre in May, a fatal attack on two young boys in September and the daylight stabbing of a woman in the city's CBD in October.
When an alleged crime occurs in Victoria at one location on a single date, it is recorded on the police database. This occurs even if multiple offences or multiple alleged offenders and/or victims are involved.
If police have later deemed no offence has occurred, the incident is removed from the count of "criminal incidents".
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