The stats, released by the Bureau of Crime, Statistics and Research compare the 12 months up until December 2020 to the same period in 2021.

While most of the major crime categories were either stable or falling two stood out, steal from motor vehicle which leapt from 133 in December 2020 to 284 in December 2021.

Domestic violence related assaults also increased from 238 in the 12 months leading into December 2020 to 332 for the following year.

Most other crime categories are stable or falling.

Break and enters fell significantly with 220 incidents recorded in the 12 months leading up to December 2020, and 142 incidents reported for the following year.

Break and enter non-dwelling also fell from 55 to 46, as did motor vehicle theft which fell from 71 to 52.

Non-domestic violence related assaults increased from 225 to 279, sexual assaults fell from 69 to 62, robbery was stable with 15 incidents recorded in both time periods.

Chifley Police District's highest ranking officer, Supt Bob Noble said police are striving to drive crime down.

"Our mission is to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

"While I'm happy (the majority of the crime categories) are not rising we'd be happier if we were forcing them in the right direction, which is down."

He said the figures around steal from motor vehicle were frustrating for police, who work hard to deliver community safety messages to prevent people from falling victim to crime.

"It's very frustrating, frequently those cars are either left unlocked and or with valuables in them, so that's a crime category that is generally fairly easier to drive down with co-operation from the public.

"This is not victim blaming of course, it's people being aware and vigilant.

"It's easy to forget and get complacent, people get home from work and they are tired, they don't take the laptop out of the car because they are forgetful.. so that's frustrating.

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"It's not the victim's fault but we as a community can protect ourselves a little bit better."

"Many of those property crimes are crimes of opportunity, which people can protect themselves from," he said.

Regarding an increase in the reporting of domestic violence, Supt Noble said he always encourages victims to come forward.

"If it's an increase in reporting that's a good thing because we can't measure, manage and drive crime down if we are not made aware of it.

"Of course again, what we would like to do is eliminate that scourge of DV from society which is obviously very difficult, but getting lots of reports and acting on them is the first step," he said.

He also encouraged victims to speak up, saying help was available.

"Support is always here.

"We are very committed to victim care and supporting victims as they progress through the court system if that's the way it goes.

"There are also programs out there for people who are offenders or who have had a proclivity to violence whether that be driven by addiction, alcohol, psychological or emotional problems," he said.

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