Data released into regional crime this week has shown the true extent of criminal activity in regional areas, just as the NSW Government released their suite of policies to address the issue. 

The report detailed trends across 20 years, finding that while some offences have reduced since 2004, crime in regional NSW consistently remains at least 50 per cent higher than Greater Sydney.

“A long standing feature of crime in NSW is that regional, rural, and remote locations tend to experience higher rates of crime than in the city,” NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) Executive Director Jackie Fitzgerald said. 

“The gap has grown over time as crime reductions in Sydney exceeded those in the regions from 2004 to 2023."

While growing reports have led to the common belief that property crime has increased, BOCSAR found that offences have been down by 48 per cent from 2004 to 2023. 

In 2023, however, property offences in regional NSW were still 59 per cent higher than in Greater Sydney, and in the Far West and Orana, rates of property crime in 2023 were almost three times the NSW average.

Rate of property crime in Regional NSW Statistical Areas and ratio to NSW. (BOCSAR)

Similarly, the rate of violent crime in regional NSW is equivalent to that in 2004, but remains 57 per cent higher than the Sydney area.

In more recent history, criminal offences have risen since 2019, largely attributed to a Covid-19 low. 

Offences on the rise

Despite numbers being lower for some crimes, BOCSAR found that significant increases have been found for motor vehicle theft (up 20 per cent), domestic assault (up 24 per cent), non-domestic assault (up 12 per cent), and sexual assault (up 47 per cent).

In the Far West and Orana region, the rise in motor vehicle theft translates to 165 additional incidents in 2023 in comparison to 2019. In New England and the North West, there were 363 additional incidents, up 91.9 per cent. 

“The 20 per cent increase in motor vehicle theft from 2019 to 2023 in regional NSW appears to be due to an increase in offending by young people,” the BOCSAR report noted. 

“Legal actions for this group increased by 188 per cent from 2019 to 2023.”

Of these young offenders in the regions, 70 per cent were male. 

More details from the report can be found here.