Two offences top list for crime in Dubbo

According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research there were 1094 incidents of malicious damage to property and 1057 incidents of breaching bail conditions.

That is an average of 2.9 incidents occurring per day in the region.

Orana Mid-Western police commander Tim Chinn said police were "proactively" keeping an eye on people who were on bail or had bail conditions.

"If someone is on curfew bail, we'll knock on their doors to make sure they're complying and if they're detected breaching their bail, even through our proactive interventions on the street, we will arrest them and put them before the court," he said.

The superintendent said this was a good crime prevention strategy as it made sure those on bail stay compliant with their conditions.

"That's probably why there may be further breaches identified," he said.

Operation Amarok - which targets domestic violence offenders - ensures those on bail for domestic violence offences are complying not only with the bail but their apprehended domestic violence orders.

"So that's another reason why more people may be arrested for breaching bail," he said.

"It's a good thing because police are out, enforcing it and detecting it and making sure they're behaving on bail and if not, will put them back before the court."

An area the Dubbo Police are focusing on is reports of malicious damage to property, through both every day police activities and Operation Boa - which focuses on property related crimes.

With 1094 incidents of malicious damage in 2023, Superintendent Chinn says the figures are "high".

"There has been greater reporting of it lately, but we have also put police on overtime...we have put them on bikes and sent them to known areas the crime takes place in," he said.

Superintendent Chinn recognises that at times it is youth committing the crime and during those times the youth team goes out and engages various team members to look at the issue.

"But it's not just a youth thing, it's people of all ages causing the malicious damage," he said.

Superintendent Chinn said the police do get notified if someone has been released from custody from jail and if they have a history of property offences then they will know about it.

"It may be from time to time one person could commit 10 offences but we usually catch up with them and put them in using technology, fingerprints, DNA, CCTV - particularly with malicious damage, we have been pretty good with that," he said.

Superintendent Chinn said from time to time people become aware of a location that may be a repeat victim of malicious damage and it's the Crime Prevention Unit officers who are trained to go and conduct a security assessment on the premises.

"We may suggest looking at getting cameras, lighting, fencing, those sort of things to prevent malicious damage," he said.

"We'll also work with other services to try and prevent it [malicious damage] as well and make it less likely to become a target."

With 282 car thefts and 506 steal from motor vehicle incidents in 2023, Superintendent Chinn said so far in 2024 the numbers are down compared to last year.

"It's a crime that has actually dropped for this financial year which is reassuring," he said.

"I know it's not good that one area is higher than previous times or has increased but to see areas of concern drop is also pleasing."

Superintendent Chinn said the police were encouraging people to report any crimes.

"In addition to our proactive policing we have daily meetings about where crime is, and we look at ways of trying to stop or prevent crime from occurring," he said.