Out with the old, and in with a whole new way of recording crime.

Police are moving to a new monthly count of victims and offenders, instead of individual offences.

The new system being unveiled this morning will see two records released for each policing district, every month.

One will count the age, gender and ethnicity of each person or business location victimised by certain kinds of crimes.

The other will count the details of people accused of committing any criminal offence.

Police hope the new count will reflect the actual harm of crime, including persistent family violence.