NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has welcomed the latest crime data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) for the 24 months to December 2013 that shows 15 of the 17 major crime categories have remained stable or are going down.

Only two major categories have increased over the last two years:

* indecent assault, act of indecency and other sexual offences (up 7.8 per cent),
* and fraud (up 13.2 per cent).

And there were significant decreases in seven major crime categories:

*Robbery without a weapon (down 11.2 per cent),
*break and enter dwelling (down 13.3 per cent),
*break and enter non-dwelling (down 10.5 per cent),
*motor vehicle theft (down 12.9 per cent),
*steal from motor vehicle (down 5.0 per cent),
*steal from person (down 11.8 per cent).
*and malicious damage to property (down 8.1 per cent).

Mr Scipione has also welcomed a new report by BOCSAR on the long-term trends in property and violent crime in NSW: 1990-2013.
The report states that some categories of crime in NSW are now at the lowest recorded levels they have been for over 20 years.
Comparing per capita rates of crime in 2013 with per capita rates in 1990, lower rates were found for:

*Motor vehicle theft (77 per cent lower),
*robbery with a firearm (73 per cent lower),
*break and enter non-dwelling (68 per cent lower),
*break and enter dwelling (52 per cent lower),
*murder (43 per cent lower),
*robbery without a weapon (35 per cent lower),
*and robbery with a weapon not a firearm (29 per cent lower).

However over this same period (from 1990 to 2013), NSW recorded increases in the crime rate of both sexual assault (up 125 per cent) and sexual offences (up 95 per cent).
BOCSAR director, Don Weatherburn, said the increases in sexual assault and other sexual offences may be partly due to increased reporting by the victims.

Mr Weatherburn said that a large proportion of the increase in indecent assaults, act of indecency and other sexual offences also noted in the last 24 months report, has come from an increase in reports by child victims and can also be attributed to active campaigns encouraging reporting of sexual offences, which include indecent assaults.

Commissioner Scipione said: “The main component of the rise is in indecent assaults on girls aged 10 to 15 and most of these have been committed by people known to the victim.
*50 per cent of victims over the past two years were indecently assaulted in their own homes and
*92 per cent were assaulted by a person known to them.
This proportion for indecent assaults is slightly lower than for sexual assaults, where 97 per cent of offenders were known to the child victim.”

The rise in fraud is mainly due to unauthorised use of credit cards.
Commissioner Scipione said the notable rise in fraud offences served as a warning for people to take all possible precautions to protect the security of their banking details, particularly credit cards.
“BOCSAR is telling us that the rise in fraud offences is largely related to credit card offences.
“We know there are criminal gangs out there committing fraud via cards skimming and on-line deception offences.
“There is a range of things people can do to protect themselves.”

*Protect your PIN at ATMs
*Inspect ATMs for any suspicious signs
*Have up-to-date virus protection on your computer
*Never provide your financial details to anyone, particularly those who contact you unexpectedly on line.

Commissioner Scipione noted that the detection of drugs had risen:
*possession/use of cocaine (up 16.9 per cent),
*possession of use of amphetamines (up 5.7 per cent)
*and dealing/trafficking in cannabis (up 8.4 per cent),

He said this was good work by police by pro-actively targeting major events such as music festivals with drug dog operations and other enforcement.
Commissioner Scipione said it was important to note that the report recognises that these increases are due to more intensive law enforcement.
“We have quite deliberately set out to disrupt the supply of these drugs at major events,” he said.
“History tells us the damage these drugs can do to young people and if we save one life, it’s worth it.”

BOCSAR also reports that across NSW, over the five years to December 2013, violent offences have decreased on average each year by 1.7 per cent and property offences have remained stable.

Shooting offences remain stable, when measured across the two, five and 10 year periods leading up to December 2013.
Commissioner Scipione said the incidence of prohibited and regulated weapons offences is up 15 per cent.
The increase generally relates to possession of a firearm, while unlicensed (outside of Sydney) but it also reflects greater enforcement of firearm laws by police, in particular, increases in weapons searches and success in such operations.
“We are pro-actively working to reduce gun crime,” he said.

Commissioner Scipione said since our Transport Command has come on board we have seen an increase of 20.3 per cent in detections of transport offences, from fare evasions to alcohol offences.

“Proactive police work leads to increased detections and that’s exactly what our officers have been doing across the transport system. They are making an impact,”he said.
Commissioner Scipione said he attributed these good BOCSAR results to the hard work by officers of the NSW Police Force.
“It is their dedication and tenacity that has achieved these good results,” he said.