Crime Manager Detective Chief Inspector Mark Robinson said the results highlighted the good work by officers across the region.

“There has been a lot of good work focussing on our problematic crime categories,”  Chief Inspector Robinson said.

“Police have been proactively engaging and interacting with people in known crime hotspots.

“We will continue to be out and about continuing that good work over the upcoming busy summer holiday period.

“All command leave has been embargoed for the Christmas break. All officers will be working and additional police from throughout the Southern Region will be in the Shoalhaven over the summer period.”

Chief Inspector Robinson said police would be maintaining a significant focus on property related crime, especially stealing from motor vehicles.

“Although the stats are pleasing there are still offences that can be easily avoided, particularly steal from motor vehicles,” he said.

“We are still seeing the majority of offences related to unlocked vehicles, or locked vehicles where valuables are clearly visible.

“We urge members of the community to be proactive in the lead up to our busy summer months to ensure they always lock their vehicles, even when parked in the driveway at home, and to remove all valuables. If that is not possible at least remove them from sight.”

He said a significant amount of the fraud offences related to stolen credit cards.

“Again a lot of those offences can be often traced back to stealing from unlocked vehicles,” he said.

“The offenders then use the payWave facilities.

“Police follow up these matters and a number of people have been charged with the fraudulent use of credit cards.

“Other fraud offences can be part of organised online scams where victims believe they are speaking to a genuine organisation such as a banking institution or utilities company and when requested provide personal and or account details after which money is stolen.

“We urge members of the community to be vigilant about any personal information they provide over the phone or  allowing people to access their computers remotely.

“If in doubt, look up the organisation concerned and phone them directly to confirm the inquiry.”

Crime across the Shoalhaven is on the decrease according to the latest quarterly data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).

In the 17 categories recorded, the Shoalhaven posted reductions in 14 over the previous 12 months.

The biggest reduction was in break and enter dwelling down 19.4 per cent, stealing from a dwelling down 19.3 per cent, while car theft was also down five per cent.

Break and enter dwelling fell from 625 to 504, stealing from a dwelling was down from 337 to 272, while motor vehicle theft fell by nine from 179 to 170.

There was also an 85 case reduction from break and enter non dwelling,  49 fewer cases of stealing from a motor vehicle and 76 fewer cases of malicious damage.

The three areas of increase locally was fraud, which was up by 47.1 per cent from 344 to 506, sexual assaults up by 13 from 85 to 98, while there were 12 extra cases of indecent assault, act of indecency and other sexual offences up from 120 to 132.

The increase of fraud is put down largely to credit card theft and the use of payWave, while drive offs from petrol stations without paying for fuel was also a factor.

Police believe many of those instances could be put down to errors with the new card payment method at the petrol bowsers.

In other areas of reduction, domestic violence related assault, which for so long has been a problem in the Shoalhaven reduced by five from 387; non domestic related assault was down 13 from 439 to 426; robbery without a weapon fell from 15 to 12; robbery with a firearm was down from four to one; robbery with a weapon not a firearm fell by four from 11 to seven; break and enter non dwelling fell from 256 to 171; stealing from a motor vehicle was down from 508 to 459; stealing from a retail store reduced from 331 to 321;  stealing from a person was down from 24 to 19; while malicious damage also fell 986 to 910.

Once again there were no murders recorded in the Shoalhaven in the past 12 months.

Shoalhaven’s results were on trend across the state, although the area recorded half the state’s average of robbery with a firearm and less than half for robbery from a person.

In the 24 months to September 2016, only one of the 17 major offence categories showed a significant upward trend across the state, while eight categories showed downward trends.