New data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) has revealed that crime is generally stable across the region.
However, the Central Coast recorded 1,624 domestic violence related assaults in the last 12 months to December, 2019, and the year before the Coast recorded 1,669 incidents.
These figures have not changed in any statistically meaningful way and we remain above the State average per 100,000 people.
By comparison, domestic violence has risen dramatically in pockets of Sydney, including Baulkham Hills and the Hawkesbury, where domestic violence incidents last year were 436 compared to 343 the year before.
The Central Coast remained stable for all recorded criminal incidents, meaning there were no statistically meaningful increases or decreases in the number of incidents.
There were 295 sexual assaults in 2019 and 280 in 2018.
There were nine robberies with a firearm in 2019 and another 35 with a weapon that was not a firearm, and 43 more without a weapon at all.
In 2018, those figures were 7, 30, and 46 respectively.
In 2019, there were 2,730 malicious damage to property events reported and almost one thousand homes broken into.
Last year, the coast recorded two murders, which is below the State average per local government areas.
Violent crime on the Central Coast has not increased in the last two years to December, 2019, with the ratio to the general NSW rate remaining stable at just above the average.
Property offences remained stable over the last two years with a ratio on parity with the rest of the State.
The data comes from the NSW Police Force, extracted from the computerised operational policing system in February.
The report includes an overview of trends in the most recent two-year period for major offence categories, firstly for NSW, and then across NSW regions broken down to the Local Government Area level.
Police say another measure of the level of crime in Australia was available from crime victim surveys, such as a survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics which estimates the proportion of crimes which are not reported to police and therefore not recorded in official statistics.
The report said that in particular, personal crimes such as assault and robbery were less likely to be reported than crimes which involved households.
“These surveys generally find that about half of physical assault victims aged 15 and over report the incident to police, whereas break-ins are reported to police approximately three quarters of the time,” the report said.
Source:
Media release, Mar 4
BOCSAR
Document, Dec 20
NSW Recorded Crime Statistics Quarterly Update: Dec 2019
Reporter: Merilyn Vale