The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research released their quarterly update on Thursday, reporting on crimes committed in the period to June 2014.

While numbers in most crime categories fell or remained steady in the Illawarra, the Shellharbour local government area displayed the region’s most significant crime rises.

Reports of ‘steal from retail store’ were up 33 per cent in Shellharbour in the 24 months to June 2014, while fraud offences rose 21.3 per cent in the same period.

Fraud across the Illawarra was up 13 per cent, with 1363 offences in the 12 months to June 2014 compared to 1198 in the previous year.

Break and enters of homes were down 18 per cent in the Illawarra, and malicious damage of property was down 13 per cent.

Wollongong still racked up high numbers of assault, robbery and theft in the past year. The LGA ranked fourth in the state for non-domestic assaults (977), eighth for non-firearm related robberies (53) and fifth for thefts from motor vehicles (1465) in the last 12 months.

In the Illawarra there were three murders, seven robberies with a firearm, 214 sexual assaults and 255 indecent assaults and acts of indecency. There was also 870 thefts from stores, 926 thefts from homes, and 197 incidents of steal from a person.

In Kiama, theft from retail stores was down 48 per cent.

Across NSW, every major crime category recorded stable or falling numbers. Statewide, there were 77 murders, 29 attempted murders, 28,044 domestic assaults, 34,866 non-domestic assaults, and 4632 sexual assaults.

The biggest jumps in state crime were possession or use of amphetamines (5917, up 16 per cent), weapons offences (11,174, up 34 per cent) and transport regulatory offences (76,750, up 22 per cent)