Stealing remains the most common crime in Western Australia despite a big surge in drug offences in recent years, newly released police statistics show.

There were more than 273,000 offences committed across the state in 2016-17, with almost one third of them involving theft from a car, shop, home, workplace or another location.

WA Police on Wednesday launched an updated, and much improved, crime statistics website allowing users to track crime trends across the State from June 2007.

A decade ago the top five offences — in order — were stealing, property damage, home burglary, drug offences and graffiti.

Stealing still tops the crime table as of June this year, but second place now goes to drug offences, followed by property damage, home burglary and family violence crimes, which includes both assault and threats against a family member.

While home burglary is often the focus of tough-on-crime posturing by politicians, the statistics show the total number of offences have not changed much over time, with 26,192 in 2007-8 and 26,731 nine years later.

Murder, or homicide, remains the least common crime.

Drug offences booming

One of the most stark statistics is the growth in drug offences, particularly since in 2012-13, when the WA economy was booming and methamphetamine was the drug of choice for cashed-up mine workers.

The statistics show that the number of drug offences — including dealing, manufacturing and possessing drugs — grew by more than 107 per cent between 2007-08 and 2016-17.

The number remains high in regional WA, where nearly one in every two offences is drug-related.

There has also been in a big growth in family violence offences in this period, which is likely linked to more victims choosing to report the crimes as a result of high-profile awareness campaigns in recent years.

While 8,761 offences were reported in 2007-08, this grew to 22,996 in 2015-16, the year after family violence campaigner Rosie Batty was announced as Australian of the Year.

The number of sex offences has also grown markedly in the city compared to the regions, up almost 40 per cent in Perth since 2007-08, from 2,896 to 4,308.

But in the bush there were 1,551 offences last financial year — lower than the 1,599 reported nine years ago.