For petty, non-violent crime such as shoplifting, bike theft and bag snatching, the Inner North is the worst area in the ACT and the problem is rising quickly, up 44 per cent this year compared with the same six months last year.

The ACT's reported crime data for the past six months also revealed the town centre is the focus for burglar activity in Belconnen, but with the outer residential suburb of Holt not far behind.

On a population-weighted basis Belconnen, which has about 9500 more residents than Tuggeranong according to the most-recent census, is expected to have more crime but the concern for police is that trend is headed north.

Assaults in the area are up 8 per cent in the first half of this year compared with 2020, and burglaries up 24 per cent.

However, the flipside is happening in Tuggeranong, an area once heavily hit by crime but now becoming far safer.

In the first six month of last year, 128 cars were stolen across Canberra's most-southern suburbs. But the number of stolen cars took a significant dive across Tuggeranong this year, falling by 33 per cent.

It's a steady improvement on the same period three years ago when 152 cars were stolen in the first six months, a third of them out of Kambah alone.

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Burglaries in Tuggeranong are also falling. From January to June 2018, the entire valley reported 211 break-ins, but in the past half-year just 119. However, small spikes in some crime types occur occasionally, with Greenway's lift in property crime from 31 cases reported in January to June last year to 47 this year as a typical example.

Burglaries in Weston Creek were almost half those of the same period last year, down from 86 to 47. However, the nearby and fast-growing Molonglo Valley has seen as 45 per cent increase in "other offence" types, which includes reports of offences for drugs, driving, deception, weapons, and offences against good order

As expected, Civic is where physical assaults are the most reported in Canberra. But the data also revealed the huge impact of last year's Covid lockdown, with assaults going from 85 in the first quarter to just 28 during the stay-at-home second quarter.

This year as everything reopened and the crowds returned to the nightlife districts, Civic assaults jumped back up again to 108 in the first three months, and 81 in the second.

Braddon's fast-growing apartment complexes and busy entertainment venues are bringing with them more reported burglaries, up from 27 in the first half of last year to 42 this year.

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