4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2014-15 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/02/2016   
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BREAK-IN AND ATTEMPTED BREAK-IN Endnote 1

BREAK-IN

What is a break-in?

In this survey, a break-in is defined as an act of unauthorised forced entry into a home or other place where a victim permanently resides.

Break-in includes:

    • forced entry to garages, sheds or any detached secure buildings such as games/hobby rooms and granny flats
    • caravans where it was the victim's permanent residence.
Break-in excludes:
    • forced entry to motor vehicles or front or rear yards
    • incidents of attempted break-in.

Victimisation and reporting rates for 2014-15 (Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2014-15, an estimated 242,500 Australian households (2.7% of all households) experienced at least one break-in. In three-quarters (75%) of households the most recent incident of break-in was reported to police.

What else do we know about break-in incidents? (Table 20)

This section discusses characteristics of households' most recent incident of break-in in the 12 months prior to interview.

In the most recent incident of break-in experienced by households:
    • The majority of households had property stolen (70% or 168,800 households)
    • Personal items were stolen in a quarter of households that experienced break-in (26% or 62,500 households)
    • Half of all households that experienced break-in had property damaged (50% or 120,100 households)
    • Around one in ten households that experienced a break-in involved the offender/s confronting someone (10% or 24,900 households)
    • One in ten households (10% or 23,900 households) that experienced break-in did not report the incident to the police as it was considered to be too trivial/unimportant, while a further 8% (19,300 households) believed that the police would have been unwilling/unable to do anything.


ATTEMPTED BREAK-IN

What is an attempted break-in?

For this survey, attempted break-in is defined as an incident where an attempt was made to forcibly enter a home.

Attempted break-in includes:
    • attempts to forcibly enter a caravan (if the caravan was the respondent’s permanent residence), garage, shed or any other detached secure building such as games/hobby rooms or granny flats
    • incidents where a person saw someone acting suspiciously around the property if it was suspected that their intent was to steal property.

Attempted break-in excludes:
    • incidents that resulted in an actual break-in (for example, where someone attempted to break in through a door but then gained entry through a window)
    • attempts to forcibly enter a motor vehicle.

Victimisation and reporting rates for 2014-15 (Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2014-15, an estimated 180,600 Australian households (2.0% of all households) experienced at least one incident of attempted break-in. Just under half (47%) of households had the most recent incident of attempted break-in reported to police.

What else do we know about attempted break-in incidents? (Table 21)

This section discusses characteristics of the most recent incident for households that were victims of attempted break-in during the 12 months prior to interview.

In the most recent incident of attempted break-in experienced by households:
    • The most commonly identified evidence of attempted break-in was damage to/tampering with doors or windows (48%), followed by seeing or hearing someone trying to break-in (18%)
    • About one-quarter (26% or 46,300 households) did not report the most recent incident to police because the incident was considered to be too trivial/unimportant
    • For a further 13% (23,800 households) the main reason for not reporting the incident to police was it was believed that there was nothing the police could do.

ENDNOTE

Endnote 1 All comparisons discussed have been tested for statistical significance with a 95% level of confidence that there is a real difference in the two populations being tested. Only data with a relative standard error (RSE) of less than 25% are referred to in the text of this publication and these estimates are considered sufficiently reliable for general use. To determine whether there is a statistical difference between any other two estimates, significance testing should be undertaken. For further information, refer to the Technical Note.