The typical image of a criminal is no longer that of a burglar at night, but someone you may already know.

In a city-wide trend, ACT data suggests assaults against people have replaced home invasions as the dominant threat to Canberrans in the past decade.

This shift in offending appears to occur while the capital experiences a drop in the overall crime rate or the number of reported crimes.

The Canberra Times analysed ACT Policing records from 2014 to 2024 and found total reports had steadily declined since peaking in 2017.

Reported incidents decreased by 35 per cent from almost 49,000 in 2017 to about 31,500 last year, a significant drop as the city's population grew by an estimated 21 per cent.

However, a fundamental change in the most commonly reported crime may suggest residents

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