State-wide trends
Crime across most of NSW has remained stable or fallen over the last two years.
The only major exception to this is stealing from a retail store (up 9%). Half of the increase in retail theft is due to more thefts from licensed premises. The most commonly stolen item is alcoholic liquor (stolen in a third of incidents).
Four offences have trended down over the last 24 months. The remaining 12 offences were stable. The offences trending down were:
- break and enter – dwelling (down 6.1%)
- steal from dwelling (down 2.8%)
- steal from person (down 5.8%)
- malicious damage to property (down 3.7%)
Greater Sydney Statistical Area
Despite the falls in crime just listed, some parts of the Greater Sydney Statistical Area exhibited big increases in some categories of crime.
- Sexual assault – up 39.4% in North Sydney/Hornsby (from 132 to 184 incidents)
- Indecent assault – up 27.3% in Outer South West Sydney (from 278 to 354 incidents) and up 43.0% in Sutherland (from 114 to 163 incidents).
- Domestic violence related assault – up 40.0% in Ryde (from 295 to 413 incidents)
- Stealing from a retail store increased in 6 of the 15 Sydney Statistical Areas
Regional NSW
Regional NSW saw the following upward trends:
- Stealing from a retail store increased in 5 of the 13 Regional Statistical Areas.
- Motor vehicle theft increased in Central West (up 37.8% from 360 to 496 incidents), Hunter Valley excluding Newcastle (up 12.1% from 713 to 799 incidents and Murray (up 33.6% from 229 to 306 incidents).
- Sexual assault increased in New England/North West (up 24.9% from 241 to 301 incidents).
Other noteworthy trends
Possess/use of amphetamines continues to increase (up 9.6%) reaching a new monthly high of 792 incidents in August 2019. This upward trend is apparent in Sydney and regional NSW, with a 59% increase in the Riverina accounting for a quarter of the increase in regional NSW.
