Crime in Sydney - Crime Statistics

Crime Statistics

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) reported in 2007 that eight categories of crime were down, including property offences, while five categories, including murder, were stable, and domestic violence was up. Bureau director, Dr Don Weatherburn, stated that a heroin shortage and a strong job market had contributed to a drop in crime.

The 2007 BOCSAR figures reported that Kings Cross was a hotspot for most major crimes, much in the vein of Times Square in the 1960s-90s. Three areas, Kings Cross, the area around Central railway station, and the section of George Street between Liverpool and Market streets, were hotspots for assaults. The report also identified the period between midnight on Saturday to 6am on Sunday as a time when crime peaked, particularly in those areas. The report also showed that personal offences such as assault peak in December and January.

In 2011 the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reported that Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, King Street in Newtown, Glebe Point Road in Glebe and George Street in the CBD were hotspots for city violence. The BOCSAR report found that 56.8 per cent of assaults in the city centre were within 50 metres (160 ft) of a liquor outlet. The same report found that that each additional alcohol outlet per hectare will result, on average, in 4.5 more assaults a year.