Property related crime including house break-ins, shop theft and car theft have continued to decline considerably in South Australia, the latest crime statistics have revealed.
The May rolling year crime statistics reveal the total number of property related offences has decreased by eight per cent – or 7,604 offences – in the period with significant reductions in most offences within the category.
Robbery and related offences have also continued to fall with a 10 per cent decline in offences recorded in the period – 80 offences – which is the sixteenth successive decrease in offences within that category.
The May figures reveal aggravated robberies declined by 14 per cent – from 490 to 432 offences reported and non-aggravated robberies rose by three per cent – from 75 to 77 offences reported.
Within the property related offences category theft and related offences recorded a 10 per cent decline in the period with a reduction in 5,709 offences – from 56,630 to 50,921.
Car theft recorded a six per cent decline – from 3,725 to 3,513 offences – and theft from a vehicle recorded a 20 per cent drop in offences – from 9,567 to 7,639 offences. This followed similar falls in the previous three reporting periods.
Shop theft has continued to fall in South Australia as ongoing proactive operations targeting recidivist offenders pay dividends with a seven per cent decline in the May period when 1,224 fewer offences were reported – from 18,405 to 17,181 incidents. This is the seventh successive decline in reported offences.
House break-ins have also continued to decline with a 10 per cent decrease recorded in the May period – from 5,822 to 5,228 offences – or 594 fewer incidents reported. This followed an 11 per cent decrease in the April period, eight per cent in March and seven per cent in February.
Non-residential break-ins also showed another healthy decrease with 318 fewer offences reported – from 3,708 to 3,390. The nine per cent drop followed a seven per cent decline in the April period and five per cent reductions in March and February.
The May rolling year statistics reveal acts intended to cause injury, which includes serious assault resulting in injury and common assault, increased by four per cent from 23,546 to 24,428 incidents reported.
Within that category the number of assault police incidents reported decreased by four per cent -from 626 to 601 incidents.
Reported homicides have returned to traditional levels with 10 recorded in the rolling year period compared with 23 in the corresponding period. A similar number were reported in the March and April periods.
