Car theft at a record high in the New England North West

The latest figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) focused on crime patterns in NSW, and it paints a concerning picture for the region, with break and enter incidents also increased in the past 12 months to December 2023.

BOCSAR executive director, Jackie Fitzgerald, said 758 vehicles were stolen in the NENW during 2023, up from 395 in 2019; prior to that the highest was 475 stolen in 2008.

"The increase we've seen from 2019 to the present really places car theft much higher than historic levels for the NENW," Ms Fitzgerald said.

"Car theft has generally fallen over the past 20 years - even though there are some other locations where it has increased in the last five years, they are still below where they were 20 years ago.

"The exceptions to that are the NENW, the Central West, Coffs Harbour and Grafton - all are currently higher than 2004."

In 2023 across the region, Moree had 172 car thefts, Gunnedah 78, Armidale 110, Inverell and Gwydir 17, and Tamworth 218 (twice the state average).

Based on population, Ms Fitzgerald said Moree topped the state, with Gunnedah at number six, Armidale at number 16, Inverell at number 18, and Tamworth at 21.

Ms Fitzgerald said while locations such as the Far West/Orana and Richmond/Tweed had recently seen large increases in car theft, these rates were still below where they were 20 years ago."

But it's not only car theft that stands out for the NENW.

In the past five years Ms Fitzgerald said the region had had an increase in violent offences, in particular domestic assault, sexual assault and non-domestic assault - but not to the same extent as car theft.

The NENW has also seen a 13pc increase in break ins between 2019 to 2023, a more modest increase but the region was the only statistical area showing that increase in NSW, Ms Fitzgerald said.

The concerning NENW statistics for the period 2019 to 2023 include:

In the year to December 2023, the NENW had five major offences that rated at least double the NSW average.

On the whole, regional NSW did not fare well in the BOCSAR report with the concerning statistics released a day after the NSW Government announced a suite of crime preventative measures, primarily focused on youth crime and Moree, on Tuesday, March 12.

BOCSAR figures show that in 2023, the rate of property crime in regional NSW was 59 per cent higher than in Sydney, and the rate of violent crime in regional NSW was 57pc higher than in Sydney.

On the positive note for the NENW, between 2019 and 2023 there were sizeable decreases in incidents of stealing from motor vehicles (down 15.4pc or 212 incidents) and other stealing offences, such as steal from dwelling, steal from person or general stealing (down 18pc or 277 incidents).

Ms Fitzgerald said a longstanding feature of crime in NSW was that regional, rural, and remote locations tended to experience higher rates of crime than in the city.

"The gap has grown over time - since 2004, crime reductions in Sydney greatly exceeded those in the regions," she said.

"Within regional NSW, crime is also not evenly distributed and particular regional locations show crime rates are much higher than the state average: in 2023, rates of both violent and property crime were almost three times the NSW average in the Far West and Orana region."

While crime is higher in regional NSW than in Sydney, it was not the case that crime was necessarily increasing, Ms Fitzgerald said.

In regional NSW, most property crimes were considerably lower in 2023 compared to 2004.

The following offences, however, have increased significantly in regional NSW over the five years from 2019 to 2023:

In 2023, rates of the major crimes in regional NSW were either lower than, or equivalent to, 2019. These included break and enter dwelling, break and enter non-dwelling, steal from motor vehicle, steal from dwelling, steal from person, other theft, retail theft, sexual touching, and robbery.