A more positive picture for crime rates here in the Far South Coast.
The conclusion made by NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) in its latest Quarterly report just released.
BOSCAR Executive Director Jackie Fitzgerald said for the 13 major crime categories there has been a significant fall in commercial break-ins in the Bega Valley, down 51%, which is a sizeable reduction.
“The Eurobodalla is seeing significant declines in three of the major crime categories. A 20% fall in non-violent domestic assault, 37% fall in sexual touching and 19% reduction in malicious damage to property,” she said.
“No offences are trending upwards in those two locations. So it really are a pretty good result for the Far South Coast.”
Break ins at commercial premises have halved in the Bega Valley over the past 12 months.
“It’s gone from 49 incidents in 2024 down to only 24 incidents last year. So you can see that that number’s come down quite a lot,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
“If we go back 10 years, we were actually looking at about 75 of those offences occurring in 2016 relative to where we were a decade ago. The fall is even more pronounced. I think there’s no question that businesses and commercial premises are certainly experiencing less crime,” she said.
The incidence of domestic violence reports on the Far South Coast also is not rising according to the latest data.
“There has been a stable pattern of domestic violence related assault reports coming to police attention over the past two years,” she said.
“That’s consistent with what we’re seeing in many parts of New South Wales. That offence does seem to have stabilised and if we look at the rate of domestic violence in the Bega and Eurobodalla Shires we can see that it’s about on average for the Eurobodalla but the Bega Valley is actually considerably lower than the state average.”
