Assaults and incidents of family violence are among the few crime types to continue an upward climb in the ACT after the territory last year recorded its lowest number of total offences in five years.
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Burglaries and motor vehicle theft both fell during the 2023 calendar year as Operation Toric (Targeting of Recidivist Offenders in Canberra) continued to make significant inroads into the re-arrest of habitual offenders who often steal cars either during a home burglary, or take the keys and return to steal it later.
The latest data recorded on the ACT police central recording system revealed there were 33,331 total offences recorded across the ACT during 2023, 321 less than in 2022.
Total offences have been on a slow and gradual decline in the ACT, down 23 per cent since 2019. Robberies have been falling steadily decline but the biggest plunge is in the reporting of general theft, such as shoplifting and petrol drive-offs, which are down 20 per cent since 2019.
The reporting of matters such as property theft, petrol drive-offs, minor collisions, property damage and vandalism all switched online in the ACT last year.
However, police concern still surrounds the growing incidence of family violence with significantly more FV offenders arrested last year and a 20 per cent increase in the domestic violence incidents attended by police.
For the first time, assault offences related to family violence incidents exceeded more than 1000 in a calendar year.
There were 3209 total family violence offences recorded by police in 2023, most of which related to breaches of orders imposed by the court. Family violence offences in general rose by 8 per cent on 2022, with a huge 23 per cent jump from four years ago.
Belconnen took the dubious distinction of being the most violent patrol zone in the ACT last year, with 730 assaults reported on the police database, well ahead of the 709 in the inner north, an area which includes the busy Civic and Braddon entertainment districts.
However, a big surprise was the level of violence recorded in Gungahlin, where there were 544 assaults in 2023, up 28 per cent on five years ago and more than was recorded for the year in Tuggeranong (534).
Gungahlin's rise in assaults came as more general types of crime, such as theft, in the fast-growing area has steadily declined. Car theft in Gungahlin spiked in the three years from 2020 to 2022 but dipped sharply last year under a more intense police focus, down 13 per cent to 146 thefts.
Residents of Belconnen were far more likely to have their car stolen than in any other area of Canberra. Car thefts across Belconnen reached 244 for the year, or more than 20 per month and even higher than in 2022 (238).
The inner north was the next biggest target for car thieves (187 cars stolen) while Tuggeranong, which five years ago was the ACT's motor vehicle theft hot spot, came in at a relatively modest 178 cars stolen over the 12 months.
There were 6323 traffic infringements issued by police across the ACT last year, the majority of them across the inner south (1513). However, Belconnen also figured prominently with 1329 traffic offences during 2023, slightly down on the 1457 reported in 2022.
Excessive speed was the major problem on the roads, with 2168 traffic infringement notices (TINs) issued to speeding drivers last year, up 15 per cent on 2022.
Road crashes which resulted in injury but not a fatality rose slightly to 319, up from 280 the year before, yet far fewer than in 2020, when 369 people were injured on the territory's roads. The ACT's crash incidence last year was not seasonal, as the worst months for road-related injury were in March, May and August.
