NT Police July statistics reveal rate of Territory home, business break-ins

Latest crime data has revealed the number of Territory homes or businesses broken into. See how police are tackling the issue.

New data has revealed the number of homes or businesses broken into across the Territory as police explain a possible cause behind the offending.

There were 5809 break-ins in the Northern Territory from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022.

In July alone this year, there were 399 reported break-ins at homes and businesses across the Territory.

That breaks down to 197 homes and 202 commercial premises.

Commander Daniel Bacon said there had been a “mixed bag of crime statistics” across the Greater Darwin region, with the most damning rates in property crimes.

In the 12 months to July 31 this year, there was a 52.55 per cent increase in commercial break-ins and a 29.1 per cent increase in house break-ins, compared to the period from August 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021.

In Darwin for the reporting period to July 31 this year, house break-ins increased 51.67 per cent and commercial break-ins 82.72 per cent.

Commander Bacon, referring to the latest crime statistics that include July this year, said there were some “significant figures”.

He said a significant factor in the property crime was the skyrocketing rate of homelessness in the Darwin area.

He said an estimated 500-600 people typically slept rough in Darwin over that period but this July that increased to 3000 people.

“A lot of that property crime we can attribute to the increased rough sleeping over that particular period of time that the Greater Darwin region received,” Commander Bacon said.

“A lot of those trends were actually linked to issues and community unrest in Wadeye and the Daly River region.”

Across the Territory in the 12 months to July 31 this year, there were 1871 vehicle thefts, representing a 30.2 per cent increase on the prior 12 months to July 31, 2021.

Commander Bacon said police were focusing their efforts on offences by rough sleepers and misbehaving children.

“They are the two areas we are concentrating on as a command to reduce those offence numbers and putting the offenders before the court,” he said.

Commander Bacon said anecdotally more Territorians were taking steps to avoid “opportunistic” crooks by locking their doors and closing their windows.

“I’m a local Humpty Doo lad, I certainly grew up with no door in my house in a Humpty Doo humpy,” he said.

“Certainly opportunistic crime is there and people do take advantage of it but we are a different society than what we were 20-30 years ago.”

Commander Bacon said the latest spike in property crime did not impact the overall 10-year downward trend in crime.

Territory-wide, there were 400 reported alcohol-related assaults in July this year.

That includes domestic violence and non-domestic violence related offences.

In Alice Springs, there was 130 assaults with alcohol involved, compared to 44 assaults in which alcohol was not a factor.

Katherine recorded 56 assaults with alcohol involved, and seven where booze was not an identified contributing factor.

Domestic violence rates in these areas also increased in the year to July 31, 2022, jumping by 22 per cent in Alice Springs with a total of 1464 reports, and a 11.64 per cent jump in Katherine to 489 domestic violence assaults.

Darwin had a 10 per cent drop in alcohol related assaults, with 147 fewer attacks in the 12 months to July 31 this year.

Palmerston had seven additional alcohol related assaults, increasing by less than 2 per cent for the same reporting period.

Tennant Creek’s alcohol restrictions predated the 2007 Intervention and continued after the Liquor Act changes from July.

In Tennant the rate of alcohol related assaults almost halved, dropping from 337 assaults in the 12 months to July 31, 2021, to 195 in the year to July 31.

Domestic violence assaults continued to trend down in Darwin, dropping by 9 per cent in the 12 months to July 31 this year, while Palmerston dropped by 2 per cent.

Commander Bacon said this was a product of a profound cultural shift as a community, nation and police force in dealing with violence within the home.

*An earlier version of this story that was published on Friday evening included incorrect figures. The NT News apologises for the error.