Community Safety Perception

How safe do Victorians feel in their own homes, and how do their everyday behaviours reflect those feelings?

Through the How Safe is My Place program, Neighbourhood Watch Victoria has gathered firsthand insights from Victorians about how safe they feel in their own homes and how that sense of safety shapes their daily behaviour. Our Community Safety Perception Program translates that data into accessible, evidence-based findings for local councils, community organisations, and government partners working to build safer, more connected communities across Victoria through a report method.

These reports are designed to inform Victorians, local councils, community organisations, and government stakeholders about the real sentiments and lived experiences of people across the state. By making these findings accessible and publicly available, we aim to support evidence-based decisions that reflect what Victorians are actually thinking and feeling about safety in their communities.

Safety in Neighbours

The Second Edition (2026)

Does knowing your neighbours change how safe you feel at home?

Drawing on 2,217 responses to the How Safe Is My House questionnaire in 2025 (which you can access here), this second edition maps neighbour connection and felt safety across 42 Victorian local government areas, and sets both against official recorded crime.

The headline is a hopeful one. 93 per cent of Victorians surveyed already know their neighbours well enough to say hello, so the gap is not between isolation and community but between light familiarity and trust. Meanwhile, recorded offence rates vary more than sevenfold across these municipalities while felt safety barely shifts.

Inside the report:

• Neighbour connection and felt safety across 42 LGAs and six regions
• Three tiers of connection, with a full municipal breakdown
• Felt safety compared with official 2025 offence rates
• Where the opportunity is concentrated, including Melbourne's growth corridors
• Practical directions for councils, community organisations and event planners

Municipal Review of Perception and Protective Habits in Residential Areas

The First Edition (2025)

How safe do Victorians feel at home, and does that match the crime around them?

Drawing on over 8,021 responses to the How Safe Is My House questionnaire between 2020 and 2024 (which you can access here), the first edition of Community Safety Perception offers a municipal breakdown of how Victorians experience and respond to safety in their neighbourhoods.

It looks past recorded crime to the gap between objective and perceived safety, shaped by habit, socioeconomic background and local context, and examines both active security measures such as CCTV and alarms and passive ones such as locking up even when home.

Inside the report:

• Safety perception ratings across six Victorian regions, 2020 to 2024
• Trends in home security systems and everyday habits
• Passive versus active protective behaviours by region
• How population density and access shape safety practices
• How participation and inclusivity in safety data can be improved