ACT Policing's crime statistics show there were 42,451 total offences recorded in 2018, down 12.7 per cent from 48,620 the year before.

There were 44,926 offences across Canberra in 2016, 44,704 in 2015 and 44,607 in 2014.

Fewer offences were recorded across the ACT in almost every crime type in 2018 than in 2017, but breaking the data down by location reveals some notable shifts.

Tuggeranong experienced its worst year for sexual assaults since 2015, with 102 recorded, a 32.5 per cent increase on 2017. The number of sexual assaults was up 10 per cent in Woden, where there were 52, and up 0.7 per cent Belconnen where there were 142.

But the rate of sexual assaults fell in the ACT's other districts, most notably by 38.2 per cent in the inner north. The overall number of sexual assaults recorded dropped 11 per cent.

Molonglo bucked the trend in 2018, with its crime rate falling significantly after steady increases in each of the four years before that. The total number of offences in the district almost halved when compared to 2017, falling from 714 to 474.

More crimes were committed in Belconnen than any other part of Canberra, with 10,841 offences recorded in the ACT's most populous district.

The biggest decrease in crime was in the property damage category, with 18 per cent fewer offences in 2018 when compared with 2017.

Burglaries dropped 17.8 per cent, while 14.5 per cent fewer traffic infringement notices were issued.

There were also reductions in theft (down 12 per cent), assault (down 8.8 per cent) and robbery (down 8.1 per cent).

Homicides were down 14.3 per cent last year, but the decrease is exaggerated by the low number of instances, with six in the ACT in 2018 and seven in 2017.

The only category to record a year-on-year record increase in the number of offences in 2018 was "other offences against the person", which can include abduction, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, false imprisonment, harassment and threatening behaviour. There were 276 such incidents last year, up from 266 in 2017.

Across the border, the latest from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show the number of all major criminal offences committed in Queanbeyan has been stable for two years.

While the number of offences barely changed, the city's crime rate is much higher than the NSW average in some categories.

Thefts were committed in Queanbeyan at a rate of 8950 per 100,000 people in the year to September 2018, three times the state-wide average of 2881 per 100,000.

Drug offences and malicious damage to property were more than twice as likely to occur in Queanbeyan than elsewhere in NSW during the same period.

There were 99 drug offences in the border city in the year to September 2018, more than double the rate per person across the state.

Malicious property damage offences were committed at a rate of 1855 per 100,000 people, with 120 in the year to September 2018. The NSW average was 766 offences per 100,000.

There were 99 assaults in Queanbeyan during the same period – a rate of 1530 per 100,000 people. The state-wide average was 822 per 100,000 people.

Twenty sexual offences were committed at a rate of 309 per 100,000 people, compared to the NSW average of 175 per 100,000.