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 19.3%	Stable
Assault - non-domestic violence related	Stable	Up by 3.9%
Sexual assault	Down by 26.0%	Stable
Indecent assault, act of indecency and other sexual offences	Stable	Up by 10.2%
Robbery without a weapon	Stable	Stable
Robbery with a firearm	Stable	Stable
Robbery with a weapon not a firearm	Stable	Stable
Break and enter - dwelling	Stable	Down by 4.6%
Break and enter - non-dwelling	Down by 25.3%	Down by 15.4%
Motor vehicle theft	Stable	Down by 7.3%
Steal from motor vehicle	Down by 14.9%	Up by 1.2%
Steal from retail store	Stable	Stable
Steal from dwelling	Stable	Down by 6.8%
Steal from person	Down by 25.9%	Stable
Fraud	Up by 27.9%	Up by 7.7%
Malicious damage to property	Up by 4.5%	Up by 3.4%

 
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.