Reported incidents of violence against women in NSW have spiked in the last five years and are trending upwards across cities and regions.
Domestic violence incidents have increased 13.1 per cent while sexual assault incidents have grown by 25.9 per cent over the period, a report released on Monday shows.
The rise was driven by more police reports in both metropolitan Sydney and regional communities, said the report by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
NSW recorded more than 33,000 domestic assault incidents in the 12 months to September 2022 with the largest rises in Murray (up 48 per cent), Sutherland (45 per cent) and Baulkham Hills (40 per cent).
Areas with the biggest increase in sexual assault incidents recorded in the year to September were Sutherland (up 80 per cent), Hunter Valley (50 per cent), Southern Highlands (46 per cent), and inner-west Sydney (42 per cent).
The bureau's executive director Jackie Fitzgerald noted property crime recorded by police remained significantly lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"For instance, in the year to September 2022 police recorded a staggering 33 per cent fewer residential break-ins than five years ago," she said.
"We know that many crimes fell sharply during the COVID lockdowns, fortunately for the community, many property crimes are yet to recover."
Despite recent media attention on violent offences involving a knife or firearm, recorded crime statistics show no increase in violent offences involving firearms or knives in the year to September.
"We are actually seeing a general reduction in criminality, particularly amongst young people," Ms Fitzgerald said.
"Juveniles and young adults are much less like likely to be involved in crime than they were historically."
The bureau's statistics are based on criminal incidents reported to or detected by NSW Police, and recorded on its Computerised Operational Policing System.
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