Crime in your ‘hood: Richest suburbs have least burglaries

IN the eastern suburbs some of Australia’s richest suburbs recorded among the lowest rates of break-ins, car thefts and malicious damage. See how your suburb rates with our INTERACTIVE MAPS.

Constable Eliza Simpson with a bank of mailboxes. Thefts from apartment building mailboxes are big. Picture: John Appleyard

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WHEN it comes to property crime in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the law of the jungle does not apply — predators go after small fry and leave the wealthy alone.

Exclusive data released to Newslocal by the NSW Bureau of Crime statistics and Research (BOCSAR) reveal Australia’s richest suburbs recorded among the lowest rates of burglaries, car thefts and malicious damage in the east.

While Maroubra (736), Randwick (555), Kingsford (517) and Paddington (427) had the most break-ins in the past six years, Watsons Bay notched up just 18 burglaries — three a year — and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s home suburb of Point Piper 36. Queens Park with 59 break-ins since 2011 also made the top ten of most secure suburbs.

It was a similar story for car thefts in the same period with the most 418 in Maroubra followed by Mascot (317), Randwick (300) and Bondi Beach (202). In contrast, Watsons Bay recorded just eight cars stolen and Point Piper 11 in six years.

Maroubra again topped the list of malicious damage reports with 1536 followed by Darlinghurst with 1131 compared to Watsons Bay (43), Point Piper (54), Tamarama (60) and Dover Heights (94).

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.

In the east, the highest concentration of burglars (70), shoplifters (423), car thieves (29) and vandals (293) called Maroubra home in the period from 2011 to March 2017. Two burglars were recorded living in Point Piper, in Australia’s richest postcode according to the Australian Taxation Office, with an average income per resident of $189,293.

While property crime is falling overall, the BOCSAR figures showed the top ten suburbs for home break-ins are all in the west or south west, with the worst nine suburbs for car theft also in this region.

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.

The suburbs break and enter POIs called home most often were: Waterloo, Redfern, Macquarie Fields, Airds and Bidwill, with Glebe topping the list for POIs in 2016 with 38 offenders.

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.

Penkivil street resident Denise Fleischer pictured late last year after a spate of thefts in Bondi in Flood, Penkivil and Wellington Streets. Picture: John Appleyard

In some areas reports of home break-ins smash past a hundred while zero locals are implicated.

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.

CCTV footage from a Hyde Park home captures the moment a thief tries to steal a car in 2014.

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.

Former Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology president Professor Rick Sarre

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.

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.

CAR THEFT 2011 TO MARCH 2017 MAP:

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

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.

Petrol Boutique owner Paula Acheson said she was sick of shoplifters in Paddington. Picture: Paul Guy

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

The most POIs for this crime were living in Surry Hills (710), Blacktown (637), Redfern (598), Macquarie Fields (524), and Waterloo (524).

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.

A Mascot man was among those charged over a car re-birthing operation in Punchbowl and Bankstown in February last year.

MALICIOUS DAMAGE 2011 TO MARCH 2017 MAP:

“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.

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.

ROBBERIES IN SOUTH WEST SYDNEY LINKED

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.