The 96.2 per cent spike was the second-biggest increase recorded in that category across all of NSW, second only to the neighbouring Wellington local government area, which recorded a whopping 141.7 per cent increase in the same period.

The figures were contained in the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) quarterly report released yesterday.

With 153 of the incidents reported in Dubbo and 58 reported in Wellington in the year to September, break and enters to non-dwellings were happening at a rate more than twice the state average in Dubbo and nearly four times the state average in Wellington.

Orana Local Area Command Detective Sergeant Mark Meredith said non-dwellings could include buildings such as shops, farms, industrial sheds, storage warehouses and workplaces.

For Dubbo, the other crime category in Dubbo that experienced a significant jump was thefts from motor vehicles, which rose by 36.1 per cent. 

Rates were calculated per 100,000 population, Detective Sergeant Meredith said, so there were not necessarily more offenders in Dubbo and Wellington than elsewhere. But there were a lot of repeat offenders, he said.

“We’re not looking at the wild, wild west, 90 per cent of the crime is done by a small minority,” he said.

“We are aware of that and that’s why we concentrate much of our effort on people who have recently been released from custody, and we liaise with other government agencies such as Corrective Services and Probation and Parole to monitor them.”

Information provided by members of the community had also been extremely helpful in the past and Detective Sergeant Meredith said he hoped people would continue to come forward if they had information that could help police smash crime locally.

“And through that we are getting results,” he said.

“We’re happy with our clear-up rates for significant crimes. And across the board, what’s reported in one day may well be solved on the same day or within a week.”

Detective Sergeant Meredith said local residents could feel somewhat optimistic in that police were using an increasingly impressive amount of technology to solve crimes.

“The sheer quantity of things we can obtain from crime scenes these days, DNA and the like, should give people hope,” he said.

“The technology is far greater than it used to be and as a result there have been some serious crimes solved that are 20 to 30 years old.”

There were measures local property owners could take to help prevent their premises falling victim to break-ins, Detective Sergeant Meredith said.

“Discuss security with our crime prevention officer or your insurance company,” he said.

“We can assist people with security, have a chat with us.”

Meanwhile Detective Sergeant Meredith said the growing use of security cameras in business premises was helping police catch crooks.

“CCTV is a wonderful tool and we rely on it heavily,” he said.

And while he had said it before, Detective Sergeant Meredith said he would keep reminding members of the community to secure their vehicles when they left them.

“Make sure you take anything of value with you, don’t leave your valuables in plain sight,” he said.