Search your suburbs: SA’s most dangerous neighbourhoods

While Hills residents remain the safest in Greater Adelaide, police figures have revealed which SA suburbs are the most crime-ridden. See where your neighbourhood ranks.

Northern suburbs residents still live in some of the most dangerous suburbs in the state, statistics have revealed – but crime is barely visible if you’re living out in the Hills.

Elizabeth, Bolivar and Gepps Cross have topped the list for the most crimes per 100 residents, with data revealing all three suburbs had an increase in offences in the 2021-22 financial year.

For Gepps Cross and Bolivar it has been a stark increase over the last 10 years, with a 89.8 per cent and 153.2 per cent rise in offending respectively.

Meanwhile it’s Hills residents who remain the safest in Greater Adelaide, with statistics revealing very low levels of crime among those suburbs and towns compared to Metropolitan Adelaide.

With a population of 760 people, Summertown recorded just two offences in 2021-22. Montacute also recorded just two offences, while Lenswood and Greenhill recorded three.

A criminologist says cost of living pressures and easing Covid restrictions are to blame for a spike in domestic abuse related offences, assaults and shop thefts in South Australia.

The revelation comes after The Advertiser analysed SA police data to understand how crime had changed since the Covid-19 pandemic.

A breakdown of statistics in December 2022 showed crime across the board had returned to pre-pandemic levels, but some offences have become more prevalent since 2019.

Domestic abuse related offences climbed 19 per cent, acts intended to cause injury 21 per cent and shop thefts 19 per cent.

Retired criminologist Professor Rick Sarre said a range of factors were to blame, but particularly cost of living pressure.

“We’ve seen in the last two years, coinciding with coming out of the Covid dilemma, inflation coming into its own … and now with the RBA raising interest rates … that is putting a lot more pressure on households,” he said.

“You’d be an idiot to think that didn’t have some effect upon people’s willingness to engage in criminal conduct.”

Drakes Supermarkets director John-Paul Drake has become notorious for shaming shoplifters on social media in what he calls “customer magic” videos.

He said he was not surprised there had been a spike in shop related theft.

“It’s still a major issue – but when times are tough it becomes more pronounced,” he said.

“We have unfortunately noticed an increase in the number of people being caught helping themselves to items from our stores.”

At Drakes store at Wayville, John-Paul Drake was not surprised there had been a spike in theft from retail businesses. Picture Dean Martin

Mr Drake said his northern suburbs stores were the “hardest hit”.

“I feel for these people – but stealing is not the answer,” he said.

He said his videos were designed to show the community how prevalent theft was.

“We have found that since releasing these videos our team and our customers are a lot more vigilant – when they see a potential “magician” they’re no longer shy in letting us know,” he said.

While cost-of-living caused people to become desperate and commit petty offences, Prof Sarre said the increase in domestic-related violence was borne out of the impact of the pandemic.

“The financial pressure that placed on families … and I think people hitting the bottle to try and cope with their seeming powerlessness only made that worse,” he said.

A closer look at statistics from the 2021-22 financial year found common assaults in the Adelaide CBD jumped 90.1 per cent on the previous year.

Mr Sarre said this was likely because people returned to the city to enjoy hospitality venues and Adelaide’s night-life after two years of lockdowns and restrictions.

“There might have been a little bit of a spike when people simply returned on mass to a place where there hadn’t been for some time,” he said.

“People broke free from their isolation and did return to the city.”

Adelaide West End Association (AWEA) president Taren Hocking declined to comment on the crime statistics, however said safety in the CBD was paramount.

Several arrests were made in the Adelaide CBD in 2022 when a man was stabbed to death on North Terrace. Picture 7NEWS

A person stealing alcohol from a northern suburbs bottle shop during the middle of the day. Picture: TikTok

“The safety of all of the people who study, work and visit in our city will always be paramount and underpins the businesses and communities that call it home,” she said.

“AWEA are thankful to be part of the City of Adelaide Hindley Street Roundtable along with SAPOL, Encounter Youth, AHA and other key stakeholders to continue to work collectively towards improvements wherever they can be made and we are grateful to all of the individuals who share this commitment to making our city safer.”

When it comes to the most dangerous suburbs, it was areas north of Adelaide – including Elizabeth, Bolivar and Gepps Cross – that experienced the most crime.

Prof Sarre said this was because they were lower socio-economic demographic areas.

“We sometimes refer to them as garden variety crimes, they are typically associated with lower socio-economic areas where you tend to have higher degrees of unemployment,” he said.

“You’ve got intergenerational trauma and intergenerational unemployment … it’s people who are struggling financially and who don’t have the same educational opportunities others have.”

South Australia Police were approached by The Advertiser, but declined to comment on crime data that compared years impacted by the pandemic.