Lane Cove Crime Stats and Trends to March 2023

The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Reports (BOSCAR) produces a quarterly and annual report series examining trends in crime reported to or detected by the NSW Police Force. The data is extracted from the Computerised Operational Policing System of the NSW Police Force.

BOSCAR has released crime statistics for the period April 2022 to March 2023

NSW State Trends in Major Crime Categories

Over the five years to March 2023, two of the 13 major crime categories showed a significant upward trend, eight showed a downward trend and three were stable.

The two offences trending upwards in the five years to March 2023 were:

• Domestic violence assault (up 3.0% per year on average)
• Sexual assault (up 6.8% per year on average)

The report shows that in the past two years to March 2023, five of the major 13 offence categories showed an upward trend in NSW.  The offences trending upwards are:

• Domestic violence related assault (up 5.2%)
• Non-domestic violence related assault (up 13.0%)
• Break and enter dwelling (up 8.6%)
• Steal from retail store (up 37.6%)
• Motor vehicle theft (up 21.3%)

The upward trends in break and enter-dwelling, steal from retail store and motor vehicle theft generally reflect a recovery from COVID-related crime falls and return towards pre-pandemic crime levels.

Lane Cove Crime Stats

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Stealing from Motor Vehicles in Lane Cove is trending downwards.  This could be because of a concerted campaign by North Shore Police Area Command to warn people to lock their houses and cars.

On 19 October 2022, North Shore Police Area Command published the following post on its Facebook page and noted:

North Shore Police Area Command also stressed the 9 PM routine where you check that your car and your house are locked.

Transport Regulatory Offences are down by 24.5% – is this because fewer people are catching public transport and there are still people who work from home?

Transport Regulatory Offences Include offences on the rail network such as travelling without a valid ticket, smoking, drinking or using offensive language on a train or on railway land and buffer riding (riding on the outside of a moving train).

A study by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research released in 2019 has found that increasing police numbers can reduce crime, but not necessarily through the apprehension of more offenders.

The study found that a 1% increase in the size of the police force generated:

• a 0.8% reduction in theft;
• a 1.1% reduction in car theft;
• no convincing reductions in other crimes.

The study found no change in arrest rates following the increase in police numbers. This indicates that, in this case, police reduced theft and motor vehicle theft primarily through deterring offenders from committing crime rather than through incapacitation.

NSW Motor Vehicle Theft  – BOSCAR Report

The motor vehicle theft stats show that since reaching historic lows in September 2021, motor vehicle theft in NSW has been steadily increasing such that the number of vehicles stolen in March 2023 was higher than in any month since January 2017, increasing 21.3% in the previous two years.

BOSCAR released a specific report on motor vehicle theft and their key findings were:

• “The increase in vehicle theft is not uniform across NSW. In a number of regional locations vehicle theft has shown strong growth and is now much higher than at any point in previous five years. This applies to New England and North-West, Richmond-Tweed, Far West and Orana, Mid North Coast, and Central West. In New England and North West, for instance, vehicle theft was 67% higher in the year to March 2023 compared with five years earlier and the number of vehicles stolen in March 2023 (n=91) was the highest since records began in 1995.
• This contrasts with the pattern of vehicle theft in other parts of NSW, particularly Greater Sydney, where the volume of vehicles stolen still remains lower than prior to the pandemic. In these locations, increases seem to simply reflect recovery from the COVID-related crime fall.
• Vehicles stolen in Regional NSW are more likely to be recovered than vehicles stolen in Greater Sydney. This suggests motor vehicle theft in regional locations may be more likely to be conducted opportunistically for joyriding and transport purposes.
• Young people appear to be responsible for the increase in vehicle theft in Regional NSW with a 179% increase in legal actions against this group over the five years to March 2023. A significant, but smaller increase in young people proceeded against in Greater Sydney was also observed (up 52%).
• Theft patterns vary by vehicle make and year of manufacture. In the year to March 2023:
  •  The most frequently stolen vehicles were manufactured by Toyota, Holden, and Ford, all of which are very common vehicles.
  • The vehicle makes with the highest rate of theft were Holdens, Jeeps, and Land Rovers.
  • Common vehicle makes with the largest percentage increase in theft in the five years to March 2023 were Kias, Jeeps, Isuzus, Land Rovers, and Volkswagens.
  • Older vehicles are much more susceptible to theft than recent models.
• The recent increase in vehicle theft is at least partially a bounce-back from the COVID-driven crime declines of 2020 and 2021 as pandemic restrictions eased. Another factor, however, particularly in certain regional communities, may be associated with reports of social media posts encouraging vehicle theft on the platform TikTok.”

Report Crime

Lane Cove Residents need to report all incidents to the police. Reporting incidents, helps police monitor patterns and trends. Read more here as to how you can quickly report a police matter.