Oamaru Central

Oamaru Central recorded 131 offences in the last 12 months. It has about 264 residents, which is below the 500-resident threshold we use for comparing rates, so its crime rate per 1,000 people is not a reliable comparison with other suburbs. Judge it on the offence count, not the rate.

The most common offence category in Oamaru Central is theft, with 96 recorded offences in the last 12 months — about 73% of all offences recorded there. The next most common is assault (23).

Recorded offences in Oamaru Central have fallen 41.3% over the most recent three-month period compared with the previous three months. This is a three-month comparison, not a year-on-year one, and short windows move around a lot in small areas.

Oamaru Central ranks 3 of 138 suburbs in Otago Region by crime rate, where 1 is the highest rate. This is a ranking of recorded crime, not a safety rating, and it compares Oamaru Central only with other suburbs in Otago Region — not with the rest of New Zealand.

Figures for Oamaru Central, Waitaki District come from New Zealand Police recorded victimisation data, published through police.govt.nz, and are grouped to Stats NZ Statistical Area 2 (SA2) boundaries. They count offences recorded by Police, so they reflect reporting and recording practice as well as underlying offending.