LAKE Illawarra's top cop says new figures indicate that perception isn't necessarily reality with regard to perceived higher crime rates within the command.
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According to the Lake Illawarra Local Area Command, new statistics indicate that police have a greater presence and are heavily focused on reducing crime.
The control chart average (CCA) highlights how many incidents of a crime were recorded during a month.
In 2002, there were on average 361 incidents of stealing per month; the command in 2015 has a CCA of 160.
Regarding break-and-enters, in 2002 the CCA was 304, and is now 89.
For stolen motor vehicles, in 2002 the CCA was 109; in 2004 it reached a high of 142, and is currently 30.
Drug detections in the command in 2004 had a control average of 22; this is now at 50.
Police say this means they were detecting more offences per month, and according to the command, strategies used as drivers to focus on issues such as property crime included more searching people on the streets.
In 2003, the command were conducting about 34 people searches a month; in 2015 it was 386. In 2004, the command were doing 22 move-on directions a month, which has now increased to 102.
The command were having 13 robberies a month in 2002, now reduced to five.
Lake Illawarra Local Area Commander, Superintendent Wayne Starling said from a police perspective, perception wasn't reality.
"People will see one break-in and they'll think break-ins are out of control," he said.
"We've come a long way since 2002, which is shown by these statistics.
"We analyse every break-in that occurs, analyse our hot spots where crime's occurring, we task our people to those hot spot locations and the offenders that are committing the crimes.
"Years ago we used to work in isolation as police, but today we work really closely with the community, and work with government and non-government agencies more today than ever before.
"But perception is our greatest problem.
"The main message I want to get out there is that crime is not out of control."
"But one break-and-enter, one assault is too much. We have zero tolerance for crime."
Superintendent Starling said the public should derive a feeling of safety from these figures, that police have a presence and are heavily focused on reducing crime.
He also underlined advances in forensic testing as contributing factors to the increased detection of offenders.
