Release date: 10.30am, Wednesday 17 March 2021

Link to report summary:

• NSW Recorded Crime Statistics quarterly update December 2020
• Long-term trends in violent and property crime in NSW: 1990-2020

New statistics released today by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) show that crime across most of NSW has remained stable or fallen in the two years to December 2020. All high-volume property and many violent crimes fell sharply in April 2020 in line with measures to reduce the spread of the pandemic. Since then violent offending has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but many property offences, including car theft, break and enter and retail theft remain below pre-pandemic levels.

These 10 offences showed downward trends in the 24 months to December 2020:

• Robbery without a weapon - Down 21.2%
• Robbery with a firearm - Down 36.0%
• Break and enter dwelling – Down 22.9%
• Break and enter non-dwelling – Down 25.8%
• Motor vehicle theft – Down 12.8%
• Steal from motor vehicle – Down 25.8%
• Steal from retail store – Down 26.4%
• Steal from dwelling – Down 10.5%
• Steal from person – Down 43.2%
• Fraud – Down 16.1%

Sexual assault                

The only major offence to show a significant upward trend in the 24 months to December 2020 was sexual assault. Recorded sexual assault incidents rose 10% year-on-year (up 642 incidents).  Reports were significantly up for these three categories of sexual assault:

• Child victims reporting current sexual assaults (up 21.3% or 390 incidents)
• Historic child sexual assault reports (up 11.2% or 137 incidents)
• Adult victims aged 16+ years (up 4.4% or 115 incidents).

Commenting on the findings, BOCSAR Executive Director, Jackie Fitzgerald, said the social upheaval of 2020 had delivered a significant interruption to crime patterns.  "Overall property crime fell 18% in 2020.  Break-ins, robbery, shoplifting and stealing remained low throughout the year so these offences are now at historic lows. Violent crime, by comparison, was more stable across 2020. Reports of both domestic and non-domestic assault are consistent with pre-pandemic levels.  The continued increase in sexual assault reports remains concerning."

Further enquiries: Jackie Fitzgerald, Executive Director, 0423 139 687