The latest NSW crime statistics released yesterday revealed 405 homes were broken into in the 12 months to March.

That was in addition to 136 break-ins on businesses and other buildings — such as schools and sports clubs — bringing the total to 541.

The figure is slightly up on the 12 months to December last year, when there were 522 burglaries.

That comprised 352 home burglaries and 170 break-and-enters on non-dwellings.

The statistics are in the latest report from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research quarterly report.

This reveals that the break-and-enters from dwellings across NSW over the past two years has remained “stable”, while the result for the past five years is a 4.9 per cent drop.

Albury Superintendent Beth Stirton said that over the long term, the city was “trending downwards” for break-ins.

“Police are working in every way possible to detect and identify offenders,” she said.

“That’s using our forensic technology in terms of capturing fingerprint and DNA evidence so we can identify who these people are.”

Superintendent Stirton said there was also an increased focus on having DNA collected from all untested offenders — where allowed under existing laws — so this could be run through the police database.

Anybody who saw suspicious activity, whether it be people hanging around homes or vehicles not normally seen in an area, was urged to call the police.

“We can then investigate what’s going,” she said.

“The community is our eyes and ears and so we need them to work with us.

“These figures are definitely due to a combined effort from everyone.”

Figures remain relatively high in Albury for offences such car theft, of which there were 149 in the 12 months to March, and stealing from cars, which totalled 457.

Police dealt with 228 cases of fraud, 827 of malicious damage and 56 sexual assault matters.

One of the notable trends outside the Sydney metropolitan area was a 17 per cent increase in the number of car thefts in the Riverina, which takes in Wagga and Griffith.

Albury is included in Murray, along with Corowa, Jerilderie and Deniliquin.

Bureau director Dr Don Weatherburn said it was reassuring to see that only one of the top 17 offences in the state had increased over the past two years.

“However, the continued growth in arrests for use and possession of amphetamines is a matter of concern,” he said.

“Since January 2010, the number of arrests for use and-or possession of amphetamines has risen by more than 200 per cent.”

“National survey data, for example, show that the proportion of people using methamphetamine (ice) daily or weekly had jumped from 9.3 per cent in 2010 to 15.5 per cent in 2013,” he said.