The rate of homicide, kidnapping, robbery and motor vehicle theft is at a five-year low in Australia while sexual assault and blackmail related crimes have increased nationally, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
William Milne from the ABS said on Wednesday that sexual assault and blackmail/extortion "were two offense categories to record increases between 2013 and 2014".
He said that sexual assault went up 3 percent to 20,677 and the incidents of blackmail and extortion increased by 4 percent to 527 victims nationally.
"In 2014, over 80 percent of sexual assault victims were female, with the highest victimization rate being for females aged between 15 and 19 years," Milne said.
"Females in this age group were nearly seven times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than the overall national average."
"For over two-thirds of sexual assault victims, the incident occurred in a residential location.
"Our data also showed five year lows in a number of other offense categories, including homicide, kidnapping and motor vehicle theft."
The number of robbery fell 16 percent to a five-year low of 9,886 robbery victims recorded by police during 2014, a decrease of almost a third since 2010.
"There was almost an even split between armed and unarmed robbery in 2014, with the majority of robberies occurring in either a retail location, or on a street or footpath."
Five-year lows were also recorded in a number of other crime categories, including car robberies and murders.
Males made up over 60 per cent of murder victims and over two-thirds of attempted murder victims.
The majority of robbery and blackmail/extortion victims were also male.
Females made up the majority of assault victims in South Australia (51% of all assault victims), Western Australia (56%), Tasmania (52%) and the Northern Territory (63%).
NSW
The report showed significant reductions in a number of crime categories, including homicide (-18%), robbery (all categories) (-18.5%), unlawful entry with intent (break and enter) (-7.4%), motor vehicle theft (-6.6%) and assaults (all categories) (-4.9%) in NSW in 2014.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione attributed the results to the hard work and tenacity of officers, as well as extensive community co-operation and engagement.
“I welcome these results which reflect the hard work of the NSW Police Force. I am extremely proud of all my officers who deliver day in and day out to protect the community and keep it safe”.
“We are committed to proactive crime prevention to stop crime before it occurs and have worked extensively in recent times to dismantle criminal networks. But when crime does take place, I am confident we have the best trained and most efficient investigators in the country to put the offenders before a court”.
“With the continued help of our community we can continue to make this state a safer place for all,” Commissioner Scipione said.
The statistics showed a small rise in sexual assault offences, which saw a 0.9% increase in New South Wales, reflecting the nationwide trend which could possibly be the result of increased reporting.
“We have worked hard over the years in developing and improving on our victim care, and we actively encourage all sexual assault victims to report all incidents,” Commissioner Scipione said.
