WALCHA had one of the lowest amount of break-ins recorded in 2017, making it one of the safest towns in the state in the latest crime snapshot.
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The town recorded just three break-and-enters to houses in the 12-months to December, down from four in the same time frame in 2016, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
Walcha was only beaten by Lord Howe Island, who recorded zero break-ins for the year, and the Unincorporated Far West – near the South Australian border – recorded one home hit in the same time period. The number of businesses hit by thieves also fell sharply, last year.
BOCSAR crunched the quarterly crime figures for NSW for 17 different crime categories, with Walcha recording jumps in four categories, drops in as many, and the rest remaining stable.
Non-domestic assaults almost doubled from 8 in 2016 to 15 last year, while domestic-related assaults remained the same at nine reports for both years.
One murder was recorded in 2017, up from the previous year, while the number of sexual assaults rose from two in 2016 to seven in 2017. Indecent assaults also jumped from two in 2016 to seven, last year.
No robberies, with or without weapons were recorded, and only one steal from person was reported in 2017 – down from two the previous year.
In Walcha, three break-and-enters to dwellings were recorded in 2017, down from four in 2016, while one business was broken into last year, compared to seven in 2016.
Two cars were stolen in 2017, up from zero in 2016, while nine residents reported thefts from cars last year, compared to five in 2016.
One shoplifting incident was recorded in Walcha in 2017, and two more thefts from homes were recorded in 2017 with seven incidents in total for the year.
Despite the rise in paywave and fraud, Walcha bucked the trend.
Police recorded four fraud incidents in 2017, more than halving the 2016 total of nine.
Malicious damage reports also fell from 19 incidents in 2016 to 12, last year.
Across the New England area, robberies with a firearm, with a dangerous weapon such as knife and without a weapon were all up along with rates of non-domestic assaults which jumped from 1,157 incidents in the 12 months to December, 2016, to 1,303 incidents in the same period to 2017.