Major Crime Categories Remain Stable Across the State

Almost all major crime categories have continued to remain stable or trend downwards, according to the latest Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) data released today, Member for Manly James Griffin said.

Mr Griffin said of the 17 major crime categories across NSW – only one had increased in the 24 months to September 2019, while most have remained stable and four had fallen.

The five categories that recorded major trends across the State included:

• Steal from retail store has increased by 8.8 per cent;
• Break and enter dwelling has decreased by 6.1 per cent;
• Steal from dwelling has decreased by 2.8 per cent;
• Steal from person has decreased 5.8 per cent; and
• Malicious damage to property has decreased by 3.7 per cent.

Mr Griffin said Northern Beaches Police Area Command has continued to do an outstanding job driving down crime in the local community and bringing offenders to justice.

“The dedicated men and women of our local Police here on the Northern Beaches work incredibly hard to keep us safe,” Mr Griffin said.

“This includes our General Duties police, high-visibility officers and Region Enforcement Squad that maintain the thin blue line and crack down on petty crimes like theft and shoplifting.

“They also work with retailers on ways to prevent crime and safeguard their stores from shoplifters in the future.”

Mr Griffin said while it’s not pleasing to see an increase in theft from retail stores on the Northern Beaches, stealing from dwellings has dropped significantly.

“Increased awareness and reporting as well as more police on the beat proactively targeting criminals and putting them before the courts are reflected in BOCSAR’s results,” Mr Griffin said.

Mr Griffin said at the same time NSW Government was delivering 1,500 new police – the biggest increase to the Force in more than 30 years – as part of a record $583 million investment over four years.

“Community safety will always be our number one priority and this major boost in police means we’ll continue to have to have more police doing the right jobs in the right places to help keep people safe,” Mr Griffin said.

More information about police’s shoplifting prevention strategies can be found here: https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/safety_and_prevention/safe_and_secure/business/pages/shoplifting.  

To read BOCSAR’s full report published today, visit www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au.