When a teenager in a stolen car comes hooning down his street at 4am, Dubbo resident Stephen Callaghan is no longer surprised.
"We had an absolute spate of stolen cars. Every second night there were cars being driven like maniacs through this estate all hours of the day and night," he said.
"In summer there'll be kids … roaming the neighbourhood at all hours of the morning, but that's not unusual."
The retired truck driver said his house had a "front row seat" to car theft, being situated next to a popular hooning circuit on an intersection at Apollo Estate.
Last month four boys aged between 12 and 17 were arrested and charged following investigations into two alleged pursuits late at night and early in the morning.
The 56-year-old regularly posts videos of children careening down the street on motorbikes without helmets to social media, attracting hundreds of views at a time.
It was videos like these and the appearance of a "massive spike in crime" on social media that prompted a Labor councillor to propose a crime summit for the western NSW town.
Dubbo Regional Councillor Josh Black said he himself also fell victim to crime last year when his house was broken into and ransacked.
"Community safety has to come first, and to do that I feel we need a crime summit to get the pollies up here," he said.
"I see the Facebook posts each morning, I know people who have been victims … you hear the sirens going, you see the burnt out cars all over the place."
Crime wave or misperception?
But Dubbo Regional Council Mayor Mathew Dickerson he did not believe evidence supported the perception on social media that Dubbo was experiencing a rampant rise in crime.
"Crime is terrible when it happens to you, but you've got to look at the data to see what's happening," Cr Dickerson said.
"I don't want to dismiss crime … but I just don't think Dubbo has got a crime wave."
Data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research shows most property offence categories have increased compared to pre-pandemic levels, and Dubbo is no exception.
The data shows a marked decrease in most property offence categories for Dubbo's 2830 postcode during 2020, and a rapid return to pre-pandemic crime rates by the end of 2022.
It had 130 car thefts in 2020 and 264 in 2022, a two-fold increase.
But long-term, Dubbo's postcode has experienced an overall decrease in crime for most offence categories.
Over the past 20 years, overall rates of theft for all categories decreased an average of 2.1 per cent per year.
That includes break-and-enters down 3.2 per year on average, car thefts down 0.5 per cent per year, and stealing-from-a-dwelling down 3.6 per year.
Whipping up a social media 'frenzy'
Despite witnessing a recent spate of car thefts, Mr Callaghan said he felt Dubbo's crime problem was prone to exaggeration by social media.
He said crime was more visible these days due to Facebook posts, to which he had contributed his fair share.
But Mr Callaghan said crime was often spurred by socio-economic factors, and was not unique to Dubbo, or to this point in history.
"Crime is perceived to be bad because I think everyone gets so agitated on Facebook and social media," he said.
"It comes around every now and then, flavour of the month, [people being] whipped up into a social media frenzy."
Mr Callaghan said the street had quietened noticeably after four teenage boys were arrested following a police operation.
The operation was prompted by a stolen car chase at Armstrong Crescent in Apollo Estate.
He said it was a good outcome, but on previous occasions police had been slow to respond, or had not responded at all to calls from Apollo residents.
Police 'equipped to meet local needs'
Dubbo Regional Council has not agreed to host a crime summit at this time, but Cr Black said it would be a way to pressure state and federal politicians into taking tougher measures.
Some of the measures he is lobbying for include ankle monitoring for property crime offenders on bail, and filling vacant police positions in Dubbo and Wellington.
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Caitley declined to comment on calls to fill police vacancies, saying it was "an operational matter".
A NSW Police spokesperson said police stations in both towns were well-resourced.
"[Both stations] provide a consistent and well-resourced complement of local officers to ensure the community has the best possible policing response and is equipped to meet local needs," the spokesperson said.
"Dubbo and Wellington Police Stations are also supported by other region and specialist resources when community needs arise."
