Summary
Aim
This paper focuses on stealing from motor vehicles, its nature and spatial correlates in New South Wales.
Abstract
The recorded incidence of steal from a motor vehicle increased by 4.3 percent in New South Wales, between 2005/06 and 2006/07. Money and registration plates are the items most commonly stolen. The increase in steal from motor vehicle incidents was limited to the statistical subdivisions of: Inner Sydney; Inner Western Sydney; Central Western Sydney; Blacktown; Central Northern Sydney and Lower Northern Sydney. More that 70 percent of the total NSW increase occurred in Inner Sydney and Central Western Sydney. Despite most steal from motor vehicle incidents involving cars parked in public streets, the increase has been largely confined to car parks. An analysis of victimisation in individual car parks found that a large number of incidents were concentrated in a small number of car parks. In Inner Sydney, ten car parks accounted for six percent of all incidents (569 incidents). These ten car parks accounted for 27 percent of the increase in Inner Sydney and 12 percent of the statewide increase. In Central Western Sydney, seven percent of all steal from motor vehicle incidents (256 incidents) occurred in a single car park. This car park was responsible for 30 percent of the increase in Central Western Sydney and eight percent of the statewide increase.