Crime & safety
The authoritative source for crime in NSW is the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), which publishes recorded incidents reported to or detected by NSW Police. Below are Oberon's 12 major offences for the 12 months from April 2025 to March 2026 (the year ending March 2026), with each rate (per 100,000 people) placed next to the NSW rate. The 'vs NSW' column is Oberon's rate divided by the NSW rate: 1.0 means the same as NSW, below 1.0 is lower than NSW, above 1.0 is higher.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- Rate per 100,000
- Crime counts adjusted for population, so different-sized places can be compared.
- Compared to NSW (×)
- How the local rate compares to the NSW average (1.0 = the same).
- Recorded incident
- An incident reported to police — not a proven charge or conviction.
- Major offence categories
- The high-level offence groups official rates are calculated for.
- Police Area Command / Police District
- The local NSW Police command responsible for an area.
- BOCSAR
- The official source of NSW recorded-crime data.
Safety at a glance
- Reporting period
- April 2025 to March 2026 (12 months)Latest BOCSAR recorded-crime release. These are recorded incidents, not convictions.
- How Oberon compares
- 12 of 12 major offences below the NSW rateTwo categories — robbery and steal from retail store — recorded no incidents at all in the period.
- Highest-volume offences locally
- Domestic violence related assault (23 incidents), malicious damage to property (21), other stealing offences (13)Counts, not rates. Read the counts first; the per-100,000 rates are in the table below.
- Small-population caution — it cuts both ways
- At Oberon's population, one incident is about 18 per 100,000The rate base is roughly 5,604 people, so 100,000 ÷ 5,604 ≈ 17.8. A handful of extra or fewer incidents moves a per-100,000 rate a long way in either direction, which makes a single year's rate for a small LGA unstable both when it is low and when it is high.
- Reporting rates differ by offence
- Not every offence is reported to police at the same rateThis affects some categories more than others, particularly domestic-violence and sexual offences. Recorded incidents measure what was reported to or detected by police, not the total number of offences that occurred.
- Local policing
- Chifley Police DistrictOberon Police Station (Queen Street, Oberon) sits within the Chifley Police District, part of the NSW Police Western Region. The station is not staffed 24 hours; call 000 for emergencies and 131 444 for the Police Assistance Line.
| Offence | Incidents | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic violence related assault | 23 | 410.4 | 451.9 | 0.91× |
| Malicious damage to property | 21 | 374.7 | 554.7 | 0.68× |
| Other stealing offences | 13 | 232.0 | 463.1 | 0.50× |
| Non-domestic violence related assault | 11 | 196.3 | 401.8 | 0.49× |
| Sexual assault | 8 | 142.8 | 154.4 | 0.92× |
| Sexual touching & other sexual offences | 5 | 89.2 | 104.1 | 0.86× |
| Motor vehicle theft | 5 | 89.2 | 171.2 | 0.52× |
| Break & enter (dwelling) | 4 | 71.4 | 212.3 | 0.34× |
| Break & enter (non-dwelling) | 3 | 53.5 | 91.8 | 0.58× |
| Steal from motor vehicle | 3 | 53.5 | 295.5 | 0.18× |
| Robbery | 0 | 0.0 | 20.6 | 0.00× |
| Steal from retail store | 0 | 0.0 | 372.5 | 0.00× |
Major offences in Oberon vs the NSW rate, per 100,000 population, for the 12 months from April 2025 to March 2026. Source: BOCSAR LGA & NSW recorded-crime tables. 'vs NSW' = Oberon rate ÷ NSW rate.
BOCSAR calculates rates only for these 'major offences', so high-volume justice offences (e.g. breach of bail or AVO) aren't rate-compared here. These are recorded incidents, not convictions, and counts move with population and with reporting. We present the counts, the rates and the caveats without drawing a conclusion about the council, the police or the community. For the latest figures, multi-year trends and other offence types, use BOCSAR's own tools below.
Sources — check it yourself
- BOCSAR — Oberon LGA crime table (XLSX) · Apr 2025 to Mar 2026
- BOCSAR — NSW recorded-crime table (XLSX) · Apr 2025 to Mar 2026
- BOCSAR — Crime statistics by LGA · Updated quarterly
- BOCSAR — Crime Mapping Tool (compare to NSW)
- NSW Police Force — Oberon Police Station (Chifley Police District)
Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.