Crime stats reveal more victims in 2016, rise in violent attacks

There have been more victims of crime in 2016 than the year before, according to police. Photo / File

More people were bashed, beaten and sexually assaulted this year, police crime statistics released this morning reveal.

In the year ending September 30 this year, 276,098 New Zealanders became a victim of crime, compared to 261,748 at the same time in 2015.

The number of people assaulted was 50,031 up 9 per cent from 45,894 in 2015.

Sexual assaults were up 4.4 per cent with 5508 recorded victims in 2016 compared to 5277 in 2015.

Burglaries were up 17.8 per cent with 72,780 victims in 2016 and and 61,803 the year before.

Robberies and abductions have also risen, 3.4 per cent and 15.4 per cent respectively.

In better news, the number of theft and related offences had dropped with 143,829 victims this year, down from 145,317 in the year ending September 2015.

In November 2014 police started recording crime statistics differently, collating the number of victimisations.

A victimisation is recorded every time a person or organisation is victimised for a given type of crime.

Police Minister Judith Collins responded to the figures, saying police were "working hard in our communities and remain committed to holding offenders to account."

"Burglaries, particularly dwelling burglaries, is a concern and a priority for police," she said.

"This is why an extra focus was put on attending house break-ins from the end of August."

In August police announced they would attend every reported dwelling burglary.

Collins said a review of that new policy would be conducted in December but provisional data show more than 90 per cent of scenes were visited by police in September.

"Across all crime types, police have increased the number of proceedings against offenders - rising by 3,076 to 175,772 over the year."