THEFT from motor vehicles remain a thorn in the side of Bathurst police with the latest crime statistics revealing a 32 per cent increase compared with this time last year.
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Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) figures show that in the 12 months to March 2017 there were 349 thefts from motor vehicles reported to police compared with 264 in the previous 12-month period.
Theft from a motor vehicle was one of two crime categories to experience a significant jump. The other was fraud, which was up from 192 in March 2016 to 268 in March 2017.
It’s not the first time fraud and theft from a motor vehicle have spiked as crime categories.
Detective Chief Inspector Luke Rankin last month commented on spikes in fraud, which he said were due to ever-increasing reports of Paywave or point-of-sale incidents and internet scams.
“Unfortunately we continue to see members of the community falling victim to scams perpetrated through the internet - for instance, people responding to phishing emails or paying bogus fines or invoices,” he said.
He urged people to protect themselves by looking at the ACCC Scamwatch website and being informed on how overseas crooks were trying to access people’s money.
He has also previously spoken about spates of property offences.
He said there were 65 reported thefts from motor vehicles in January 2017, followed by 22 in February, highlighting how quickly trends can change.
He said a handful of offenders could have a huge impact on crime statistics from month to month.
The advice from police was for citizens to take basic steps to avoid becoming a victim of crime.
“Don’t leave valuables in your car,” Detective Chief Inspector Rankin said.
In what is good news for the city, all other major crime categories remained either stable or falling in the latest figures.
Murder was down from two in 2016 to zero in 2017, domestic violence assaults were down from 206 to 191, sexual assaults were down from 53 to 38, while robbery without a weapon was down from nine to seven.
Robbery with a firearm was down from one to zero and robbery armed (not a firearm) fell from 10 to three.
Break and enters were down (336 to 329), while break and enters (non-dwelling) fell from 186 in 2016 to 82 for the same period in 2017.
The steal from retail category also fell – from 209 in 2016 to 183 in 2017.
Motor vehicle thefts were up marginally from 90 to 93.
