Break-ins have continued to decline at a steady rate in South Australia, the latest crime statistics have revealed.
The October rolling year crime statistics also reveal decreases in robbery offences, car theft and related offences and theft from retail premises.
The rolling year figures reveal house break-ins decreased by 10 per cent in the period – from 6,158 to 5,522 offences - or 636 fewer incidents reported.
The number of non-residential break-ins decreased by seven per cent – from 3,671 to 3,406 offences – or 265 fewer incidents.
Assistant Commissioner (Metropolitan Operations Service) John De Candia said while the continuing reductions were encouraging, he urged homeowners not to become complacent during holiday periods.
"While the work of frontline officers who are targeting recidivist offenders is continuing to reduce the number of incidents, homeowners need to maintain their vigilance and security levels at this time of year,'' he said.
"Many people will head to holiday destinations and leave their homes unattended. They should maintain security and take simple steps to ensure this – such as asking a neighbour to clear their letterbox so it is not obvious that no-one is home for an extended period.''
The rolling year figures reveal theft overall dropped by eight per cent in the period – from 57,973 to 53,448 offences.
Within this category theft from retail premises declined by 15 per cent – from 25,834 to 21,987 offences. Fuel theft is now recorded in this category under updated recording and reporting changes.
Motor vehicle theft and related offences have continued to drop with a successive five per cent dip reported – from 15,403 to 14,667 offences – or 736 fewer incidents.
The number of incidents involving receiving or handling the proceeds of crime continues to rise with 2,972 reported, compared with 2,226 incidents in the previous period.
The latest figures also reveal robbery related offences have decreased by seven per cent – from 745 to 692 offences, the number of murders decreased by 50 per cent – from 20 to 10 incidents, the number of attempted murders rose by 35 per cent – from 17 to 23 incidents.
The number of sexual offences reported remained almost static with 2,666 incidents, compared with 2,677 the previous period. Assault related offending increased by one per cent.
On 1 July SAPOL updated crime recording and reporting systems to align with a new crime coding change required by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This has resulted in changes to the look of the published crime tables that include Person and Property offences and the display of other offences categories to ensure a nationally consistent approach to reporting crime. However, ABS counting rules have not changed.
