Crime in your ‘hood: Where burglars, car thieves and vandals live and offend in Macarthur

A SUBURB-by-suburb breakdown of Macarthur crime stats reveals the property crime hot spots and where offenders come from. See how your suburb rates with our INTERACTIVE MAPS.

Macquarie Fields LAC crime prevention officer Kerry Wilson reminds people to lock their cars at night and remove valuables.

CRIME in the Macarthur region is on the wane and disadvantaged suburbs such as Macquarie Fields are changing but new figures show the size of the mountain they must climb.

Exclusive data released to Newslocal by the NSW Bureau of Crime statistics and Research (BOCSAR) shows that over the past six years Macquarie Fields, Airds and Bidwill ranked among the worst suburbs for property crime in the region.

From 2011 to March 2017, Macquarie Fields recorded the highest number of burglaries in the region with 659, closely followed by Campbelltown (643) and Ingleburn (638). But it was good news for residents of Minto Heights which only recorded seven burglaries in the same period and Menangle which had 12.

A break in at a store in Queen St, Campbelltown.

For the first time the BOCSAR data also reveals suburbs where alleged offenders or persons of interest (POIs) reside. POIs may not have been convicted in court, however they have been proceeded against by the police.

These figures show Macquarie Fields (146), Airds (139) and Claymore (93) were home to most suspected burglars while there were also 524 shoplifting suspects who called Macquarie Fields home, the sixth highest number in NSW.

CCTV footage of a burglary in Campbelltown.

Over the six years there were more than a thousand break-ins to dwellings in each of Blacktown, Liverpool, Parramatta and Strathfield but none of these places ranked in the top 20 home suburbs for offenders or suspects.

Some affluent suburbs in Sydney’s east or north shore had much lower burglary rates: in the same period Middle Cove in the north and Watsons Bay in the east each recorded fewer than 20 break-ins.

BREAK-INS 2011 TO MARCH 2017 MAP:

Former Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology president Professor Rick Sarre of the University of SA said the decline in property crime was not spread equally.

“We know criminals target homes that don’t have security alarms but that means the rich can get protection and the poor don’t,” Prof Sarre said.

Thefts from cars are a problem.

Professor Rick Sarre.

Car thefts followed a similar pattern where some western Sydney suburbs saw hundreds of cars nicked, many of them Holden Commodores. Stealing from cars was also a western Sydney specialty with some places suffering more than a thousand thefts in the six years to March 2017.

The top suburbs cars were pinched from were Bankstown, Blacktown, Liverpool, Penrith, Auburn and Greenacre. The top suburbs for car thief POIs were Marrickville, Blacktown, Glebe, Guildford, and Whalan.

Half of all cars are stolen from a home, and Holden Commodores made up five of the top 10 most stolen car models according to the national motor vehicle theft reduction council.

Three quarters of car thefts are short term and used for transport, joy-riding or committing other crimes, the council reported.

A roadside arrest on the Hume Highway after stolen goods were located.

Prof Sarre said car thefts were down about 75 per cent over the past 20 years as the only way to steal a car these days was to break into a home to the steal keys.

“While immobilisers are typically built into cars after 2001, they offer no protection if a thief has access to your keys,” Prof Sarre said.

The most common crimes reported to NSW Police between 2011 and March 2017 were malicious damage (vandalism), stealing from cars and fraud.

CAR THEFT 2011 TO MARCH 2017 MAP:

The top Sydney suburbs where thieves broke into cars were: Blacktown (2575 reports), Liverpool (2395), Surry Hills (1975), Bankstown (1792), Campbelltown (1526) and Mount Druitt (1495).

In the same period the top Sydney suburbs where POIs that steal from cars lived were: Waterloo, Redfern, Marrickville, Surry Hills and West Pymble.

Shoplifting reports between 2011 and March 2017 centred around large shopping complexes in Sydney, Parramatta, Blacktown, Liverpool, Bondi Junction.

MALICIOUS DAMAGE 2011 TO MARCH 2017 MAP:

Criminologist and Senior Lecturer at Sydney University Dr Garner Clancey said criminals “generally” stay close to home and hit targets they know when doing their worst.

“The journey to crime data suggests offenders travel quite short distances, only a couple of kilometres and tend to offend in areas they know. because they have an understanding of likely chances to be caught,” Dr Clancey said.

Mawson Park Memorial was a target.

Dr Garner Clancey.

The top Sydney suburbs for vandalism reports were: Blacktown, Sydney, Penrith, Parramatta and Campbelltown, while the top suburbs that vandal POIs called home were: Blacktown, Surry Hills, Doonside, Macquarie Fields and Liverpool.

The BOCSAR data attributes some POIs to suburbs if they were living in local jails, so the numbers for areas such as Silverwater and Goulburn are inflated and excluded from the above analysis.

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