BOCSAR March 2020: Crime data shows rise in domestic assault in Mid-Western Region

The quarterly update presents data on crime reported to, or detected by, the NSW Police Force from January 1995 to March 2020, with a focus on the statistical trends for the 24 months ending March 2020.

In that time, the Mid-Western Region Local Government Area saw the 23.7 per cent increase in domestic violence related assault, with 311 recorded incidents.

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The crime frequently draws the ire of circuit Magistrate David Day, who has said the amount locally can't be "just because of proactive policing". Rather, in February, he suggested Mudgee has a "propensity towards domestic violence".

For the Central West statistical area, domestic violence related assault up 12.4 per cent. And at the state level, it rose 4.1 per cent and was one of three major offence categories trending upwards.

The wider grouping of violent offences - including non-domestic assault, robbery, and sexual offences - saw an annual percentage change over the last 24 months of 15.3 per cent in the Mid-Western LGA. With no significant change for property offences.

For the Central West, the increase was 4.2 per cent for violent offences and stable for property offences.

BOCSAR's reports are quarterly, however in the wake of social isolation strategies implemented to address the COVID-19 pandemic, they investigated if there was an increase in the incidence of domestic violence during that time.

This report found domestic violence reports did not increase in April 2020 compared to April last year.

However, upon its release last week, it was acknowledged that it's possible that the figures are affected by a fall in domestic violence reporting during social isolation.

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With the data showing; the number of assaults recorded by NSW Police in 2020 was slightly lower than 2019; the number of urgent Police DV callouts was equivalent; and calls to the NSW Domestic Violence Line increased in 2020, but the increase pre-dated measures.

Executive director at NSW BOCSAR, Jackie Fitzgerald, noted that while the numbers don't suggest social isolation measures have increased domestic violence - they can't rule out an increase in unreported domestic violence.

"If there were an increase in unreported domestic violence that didn't result in serious physical injury, it would not be apparent in this study," she said.