Fewer people committing more crimes, Queensland police report shows

A smaller number of people are committing a larger number of crimes across Queensland, as reported rates of robbery, theft and breaches of domestic violence orders rise.

Offences rose 3.7 per cent to more than 524,000 statewide in the 2018-19 financial year, data from the latest police crime report showed. Property offences jumped 5.3 per cent and crimes against people were up 1.2 per cent on the previous year.

Common assaults spiked on the Gold Coast and in suburban Brisbane while Cairns and Townsville saw a dramatic increase in unarmed robberies.

But the number of unique offenders statewide sat at 112,827 for the same period, a dip of 0.2 per cent on the previous year.

"There is a small cohort that is actually committing more offences," Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said at a press conference to release the report on Tuesday.

"We find this in the northern region especially, there has been a big reduction in the amount of offenders.

"Certainly if we can reduce the offending in that small cohort, we will have a dramatic overall decrease in offending."

Those aged between 10 and 17 made up 15.5 per cent of all offenders but almost half of those who carried out robberies. The number of offenders in that age group dropped 5.2 per cent from 2017-18.

More than 60 per cent of crimes committed against a person over the period were assaults but serious assaults resulting in injury dropped almost everywhere except the Gold Coast and Brisbane's north.

Ms Carroll said the creation of new strangulation laws could account for part of the jump in crimes against a person, which sat alongside an 8.3 per cent rise in reported breaches of domestic violence protection orders.

Protection order breaches in particular had been previously flagged as part of a cultural shift encouraging more people to come forward. But Ms Carroll and many advocacy groups had said the figure was still likely under reported.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said the overall increase in offence types could account for some of the wider jump in crime but the overall 10-year trend was "positive".

The research, undertaken by the Queensland Statistician's Office, would help police become "better equipped" to respond to community needs.

"There is more awareness around domestic violence," he said.

"And rightly so people are reporting that and people are being held to account."

"We're supporting the police with additional resources, and also other resources or interventions to reduce that."

The LNP seized on the timing of the report's release to claim the government was attempting to cover it up.

Police spokesman Trevor Watts said the government had "lost control of law and order".

"Communities across Queensland are living in fear because criminal activity is seeping into everyday life," he said.

The statistics showed almost 60 per cent of victims knew their offender. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders made up 23.2 per cent of all offenders.

In the past 10 years, drug crime in particular has seen a sharp rise, up by 90 per cent - the largest increase of all offences.

While men still made up about three quarters of all offenders in the past year, the number of women represented in the data grew by about 42 per cent, compared to a 17.3 per cent increase in male offenders since 2009.