Dubbo's "highly-prevalent" theft from motor vehicle offences hit the whole community in the hip pocket.
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Police Superintendent David Simmons said the impact of the crime reached beyond the victims of the 632 incidences recorded at Dubbo in 2013.
"Everyone who pays insurance pays the cost," the Orana commander told the Daily Liberal.
"And there are all sorts of indirect costs as well that flow back into the community, government costs, the costs of policing communities, all sorts of things so everyone pays."
Superintendent Simmons was one of the speakers at last week's launch of a new campaign by Dubbo City Council to reduce thefts from motor vehicles.
It will attempt to educate the community about simple measures to prevent the crime that research shows is "opportunistic" in the majority of cases in Dubbo.
In 50 per cent of hits, Dubbo police said vehicles were unlocked, or phones, wallets and other valuables were in clear view - or both.
Superintendent Simmons said he was hopeful that with more vigilance, there would be a reduction in the crime.
"That's not difficult to achieve in this crime category," he said.
"It would be nice to see a reduction over the term of the rollout of the program but also an ongoing reduction that flows from that in the better education of the community."
He said the success of the campaign, which received $50,000 of funding from the NSW Department of Attorney-General and Justice, would be judged using statistics.
"It's the stats at the end of the day, but that also includes statistics relating to fear of crime in society, those statistics are also run, so over time if we can reduce the perception of fear of crime than people feel safer," he said.
"When people feel safer the whole community benefits."
The five-month community awareness campaign was launched by Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson, Dubbo MP Troy Grant and Superintendent Simmons at the police station.
It urges people to "outsmart the criminals before they outsmart you".
Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data revealed the crime remained high at Dubbo last year after a 72 per cent increase recorded between 2011 and 2012.
Dubbo also held an unenviable position ahead of other similar regional cities.
Last year 412 incidents were recorded at Orange, 279 at Bathurst, 347 at Tamworth and 532 at Wagga Wagga.
