Release date: 19 April 2010, Embargo: 10.30am

State-wide changes

New figures released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research today show that over the 24 months to December 2009 property crime is down and violent crime is stable.

None of the 17 major categories of crime showed any increase. Nine were stable and eight categories of crime were falling. The offences trending downward were:

• Robbery without a weapon (down 15.7%)
• Robbery with a non-firearm weapon (down 10.6%)
• Break and enter dwelling (down 6.4%)
• Break and enter non-dwelling (down 16.3%)
• Motor vehicle theft (down 8.5%)
• Steal from motor vehicle (down 18.8%)
• Steal from person (down 4.8%)
• Fraud (down 10.7%)

Most areas across the State showed stable or falling crime but a number of areas bucked the Statewide trends. These included:

• Sydney Statistical Division: 12.2% increase in recorded sexual assault
• Hunter Statistical Division: 11.9% increase in stealing from a retail store
• Illawarra Statistical Division: 20.2% increase in stealing from a retail store
• Mid-North Coast Statistical Division: 32.9% increase in motor vehicle theft
• North Western Statistical Division: 23.1% increase in break and enter dwelling, 10.3% increase in stealing from a motor vehicle
• South Eastern Statistical Division: 7.0% increase in malicious damage to property
• Far Western Statistical Division: 12.5% increase in non-domestic assault, 28.5% increase in stealing from a dwelling

Most areas in metropolitan Sydney showed decreases in crime but there were a number of notable exceptions. The worst of these was a doubling of the number of robberies with a firearm in the Fairfield-Liverpool area. Other notable increases within Sydney include:

• Outer Western Sydney Statistical Subdivision: 31.6% increase in sexual assault
• Outer South Western Sydney Subdivision: 22.7% increase in stealing from a dwelling
• Central Western Sydney Subdivision: 25.4% increase in stealing from a dwelling
• Northern Beaches Statistical Subdivision: 29.7% increase in stealing from the person