Trends in Recorded Crime Statistics, 2004 to 2008
 

Offence category	Annual percentage change 2007 to 2008	Average annual percentage change 2004 to 2008
Murder*	N.A.	N.A.
Assault - domestic violence related	Down by 24.0%	Stable
Assault - non-domestic violence related	Down by 11.3%	Stable
Sexual assault	Stable	Up by 24.9%
Indecent assault, act of indecency and other sexual offences	Stable	Stable
Robbery without a weapon	N.A.	N.A.
Robbery with a firearm	N.A.	N.A.
Robbery with a weapon not a firearm	N.A.	N.A.
Break and enter - dwelling	Stable	Stable
Break and enter - non-dwelling	Stable	Down by 16.2%
Motor vehicle theft	Stable	Down by 10.1%
Steal from motor vehicle	Stable	Stable
Steal from retail store	Stable	Stable
Steal from dwelling	Stable	Down by 7.2%
Steal from person	N.A.	N.A.
Fraud	Stable	Stable
Malicious damage to property	Down by 14.2%	Stable

This table shows the results of statistical tests for a significant upward or downward monthly trend in the number of criminal incidents * recorded over 2 years and 5 years respectively, for selected offence categories. Where the trend is significant, the annual percentage change in the number of incidents is shown.

"N.A." indicates that the number of incidents recorded was too small for a reliable trend test to be performed.

* For murder, the trend test is applied to the monthly number of recorded victims.