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	Stable	Up by 3.0%
Assault - non-domestic violence related	Stable	Stable
Sexual assault	Stable	Stable
Indecent assault, act of indecency and other sexual offences	Down by 12.3%	Stable
Robbery without a weapon	Stable	Down by 3.9%
Robbery with a firearm	Down by 29.7%	Stable
Robbery with a weapon not a firearm	Down by 36.4%	Down by 13.7%
Break and enter - dwelling	Down by 22.5%	Down by 9.1%
Break and enter - non-dwelling	Down by 18.0%	Down by 11.5%
Motor vehicle theft	Down by 24.8%	Down by 12.9%
Steal from motor vehicle	Down by 28.3%	Stable
Steal from retail store	Stable	Up by 4.7%
Steal from dwelling	Down by 4.6%	Down by 4.9%
Steal from person	Down by 18.9%	Down by 7.8%
Fraud	Stable	Stable
Malicious damage to property	Stable	Up by 3.2%

 
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.