Shire tops suburbs with lowest crime Lyndsey Dolan with her daughter Liliana 1, playing at a park at Cronulla Beach. SUTHERLAND Shire is Sydney's safest area to live, with the lowest crime rates across the city, new analysis has revealed. Residents of the southern suburbs such as Cronulla, Miranda, Sutherland, Gymea and Caringbah are least likely to have their car stolen, house broken into or property damaged. Analysis by The Sunday Telegraph of official crime statistics published by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has found the Sutherland local government area (LGA) has the lowest rate of break and enter, vehicle theft, malicious damage to property and theft from car or house per capita. In the two years to September 2012 there have been just two break and enters and 1.3 vehicle thefts for every 1000 residents. Second on the safest suburbs list was the Ku-ring-gai catchment in Sydney's north shore - encompassing places such as Gordon, Killara, Pymble and St Ives. Here there have been 9.5 incidents of malicious damage to property and 4.8 thefts from vehicles for every 1000 residents in 24 months. Pittwater, Hornsby, Warringah, The Hills Shire, Wollondilly, Lane Cove, Camden, Rockdale and Mosman LGAs rounded out the top 10 safest areas to live based on incidence of break and enter. Sutherland Shire Council Mayor, Cr Kent Johns, attributed the low crime rate to a strong relationship between council and police, active surveillance and a close-knit community. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing, but in The Shire everyone knows everyone. A high proportion of the population are churchgoers and/or high income earners. Most of the people here are from trade or professional background and we also have a lot of infrastructure here to help those who might slip through the cracks. But he said it wasn't perfect. "We're not different to every other community; we have some good people but unfortunately we have a number of people who aren't so good," he said. The analysis revealed Leichhardt LGA as the city's most dangerous area to live. It recorded the highest incidence of break and enter, malicious damage to property, vehicle theft and theft from home or car in the two years to September 2012. In this time, 95 in every 1000 people living in one of the area's suburbs including Annandale, Balmain and Leichhardt had property damaged. Sydney LGA had the highest rate of assault per capita - 44.9 to every 1000 residents living in suburbs including Darlinghurst, Kings Cross and Potts Point. In the west, Campbelltown ranked the most dangerous area to reside, with Wollondilly, Camden, Holroyd and Bankstown faring best. Bankstown City Council Mayor, Cr Khal Asfour, said: "We're changing perceptions every day, a lot of families are moving here and it's affordable."