Ebike thefts soar in NSW as Victoria’s crime rate drops for first time in four years
Victoria has recorded its first drop in crime in four years and fewer young people are offending, but a surge in theft is bucking the trend – mirroring concerns in New South Wales, where a sharp rise in ebike theft has helped drive stealing rates higher.
Victoria has recorded its first drop in crime in four years and fewer young people are offending, but a surge in theft is bucking the trend – mirroring concerns in New South Wales, where a sharp rise in ebike theft has helped drive stealing rates higher.
The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) on Thursday released data for the 12 months to March 2026, which showed there were 625,426 criminal offences recorded in Victoria – a decrease of 1,524 or 0.2% on the previous 12 months.
The crime rate, which factors in population growth, also decreased by 1.9% compared with the previous 12 months. It marked the first drop in the crime rate since 2022.
In the 12 months to March 2026, there were 22,654 alleged offences involving young people, a fall of 6% on the previous year. But young people remain disproportionately represented in several serious and violent crime categories, responsible for 60% of robberies, 55% of carjackings, 49% of home invasions and 48% of aggravated burglaries.
“For the first time since 2022, incidents alleged to be linked to youth offenders have decreased,” the CSA chief statistician, Fiona Dowsley, said.
Adult crime, meanwhile, rose by 10%, which Dowsley attributed to an increase in breaches of bail, stealing from retail stores and breaches of family violence orders.
Armed robberies, carjackings and burglaries all dropped over the reporting period but police said car theft remained “far too high and is more than double what it was four years ago”. They said 31,851 cars were stolen last year – the highest number since 2001-02.
Theft was also up 6.3%. More than half of the 44,000 incidents involved theft from a retail store – an increase of 11.7% on the same period the previous year. Police have previously credited the increase in theft to cost-of-living pressures.
“While pleasing to see overall crime slightly decrease, the reality is that overall crime in Victoria still remains far higher than both police and the community would like,” dep commissioner Bob Hill said.
This was echoed by the police minister, Anthony Carbines, who said crime was still “unacceptably high” but credited the government’s controversial “adult time for violent crime” and tougher bail laws for the reduction in overall offending.
“There is always more work to do and we will never rest in driving crime down and holding offenders to account,” he told reporters.
“But on any measure, crime is down, offending is down and more people get in jail and not bail, thanks to our tough new laws.”
Meanwhile, data released on Thursday by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in NSW showed crime has mostly remained stable in the state over the past two years, with the exception of shoplifting and stealing offences.
The data showed shoplifting increased by 9.1% in the two years to March 2026 and other stealing offences increased by 3.1%. The rise in shoplifting was driven by a 17% increase in the theft of clothing and footwear and a 13% increase in the theft of alcohol, while the rise in stealing was driven by a 27% increase in the theft of ebikes, which accounted for more than a third of the 2,080 incidents.
Meanwhile, the number of adults facing court in NSW increased by 10% in the two years to March 2026, with a third of the growth related to domestic violence.
The data found the overall increase in charges resulted from greater police enforcement rather than a growth in offending.
This includes domestic violence, with the data showing charges for domestic violence assault increased by 13% over the two years despite the number of recorded incident remaining stable.
In recent months, the state’s prison system has broken numerous records, despite crime remaining relatively stable.
NSW’s total prison population is a record high, at more than 14,000 people in March. The most recent data from Bocsar also shows a record number of Indigenous adults in custody, and a record number of DV offenders, which now make up almost a third of the prison population. Last year, there was a record number of Indigenous deaths in custody.
