Police are solving a higher proportion of crimes than ever before, but victim advocates say it’s nothing to celebrate.
Legal actions for reported car thefts, burglaries and robberies have doubled in NSW since 2009, a Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research report found.
Improvements were also seen for assaults, including those related to domestic violence, though closure rates for sexual assault cases have declined.
The report, released on Wednesday, follows concerns about crime rates in several states including anti-Semitic attacks, gangland wars and violent youth crime.
Growing anger about crime prompted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton this week to pledge a $750 million crime package, targeting knife and tobacco offences.
But police closing more cases was nothing to celebrate, according to victims’ advocate Howard Brown.
Improvements could be attributed to more access to technology such as CCTV since 2009, he said.
“You talk to the 450 families of unsolved homicides and you talk to the thousand families of missing persons where there’s been no resolution,” he told AAP.
“Then a report comes and says we’re doing a much better job.
“Tell that to the people who are still waiting and who have been waiting 20 years for results in the death of their loved one.
“This type of thing is insulting.”
Fellow homicide victims advocate Peter Rolfe congratulated the police on the historic high rates, but questioned why murder didn’t see an increase.
The report found the rate of solving murder cases was stable at about 65 per cent.
“I’m sick and tired of waking up and seeing so many people shot – drugs are the cause of these actions,” Mr Rolfe told AAP.
“I’ve got friends whose son disappeared 20 years ago and police haven’t solved what happened to him.”
The bureau’s executive director said the reason for the stable rate was likely not in police control.
“I suspect the characteristics of individual cases are most influential in whether a murder is solved, rather than factors that are at the discretion of police,” Jackie Fitzgerald told AAP.
She said it should be of comfort to victims and the community that the risk of arrest for criminals was “undoubtedly higher than ever before”.
“The increased risk of being caught may also have contributed to the large decline in property crime over the past 15 years by deterring offending,” Dr Fitzgerald said.
Of the 11 offences examined, nine showed a significantly higher legal action rate in 2023 compared with 2009, the report found.
About one in eight motor vehicle thefts are solved, up from one in 20.
Rates for solving domestic violence-related assault have risen from 60 per cent to 67 per cent.
Sexual assault was the only offence with a significant decline in the legal action rate, dropping from 10 per cent in 2009 to seven per cent in 2023.
It follows a surge in people reporting sexual assaults over the past 15 years, including through an online reporting tool launched by police in 2016.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
