Increase in theft in every Garda region recorded

Crime figures are down in most categories in the year to the end of September, but the number of thefts rose in every Garda region, with over 2,700 more such offences recorded - a rise of 3.6 per cent - according the Central Statistics Office.

The south eastern Garda region recorded an increase of double that level with a 7 per cent rise in thefts in the year to September 2013 compared to last year’s figures. This represented an actual increase of 485 thefts bringing the total number of thefts recorded in the region to 7,403.

The region also recorded the only increase in burglaries in any of the six Garda regions nationwide with a 5.1 per cent year-on-year increase, or an extra 183 burglaries, or a total of 3,790burglaries in the year to the end of September.

The eastern Garda region recorded a 5.8 per cent increase in the number of recorded thefts, an increase of 589 such crimes bringing the total number of thefts to 10,820.

The Dublin Metropolitan region was also above average with a 4 per cent year-on-year increase with 1,500 more thefts recorded bringing the total number of thefts to over 39,000. The increase in the number of thefts recorded in Dublin accounted for more than half of the extra thefts recorded in the year to the end of September.

A breakdown of recorded thefts shows that thefts from the person increased by 32.3 per cent to 6,110 up to the end of September 2013 while theft from a shop rose by 5.7 per cent to 20,694.

Nationally, apart from thefts and related offences, the only other crime category where an increase was recorded was in kidnapping offences with a 5 per cent increase bringing the number of kidnapping and related offences to 106.

This was driven by a rise of 22.1 per cent in the number of false imprisonment offences to 83 in the year to the end of September 2013 compared to 68 in the equivalent period in 2011/12.

Homicide offences remained static in the 12 months to the end of September; however the number of murder and manslaughter offences actually fell in the same period with four fewer such offences. The number of murders fell from 50 to 48 while the number of manslaughters fell from six to four.

The balance was due to an increase in the number of offences recorded in the dangerous driving leading to death category which rose from 17 to 21 in the same period.

The number of burglaries fell by 10.4 per cent in the year to the end of September to 25,919.

However there was some increases in subgroups within this category: the number of aggravated burglaries (those which involve violence or the threat of violence) which rose by 1.7 per cent to 294 while offences involving the possession of an article with the intent to burgle or steal increased by 2.4 per cent to 733.

Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences fell by 5.2 per cent to 2,713, however, robbery from the person rose by 1.4 per cent to 1,625 recorded cases.

There was a 13.6 per cent drop in the number of robberies from an establishment or institution to 935 while the number of robberies from cash in transit or good vehicles fell from 49 to 40 in the period covered by the statistics.

The number of sexual offences fell by 2.4 per cent to 2,007; attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences fell by almost 10 per cent to 14,400 while dangerous or negligent acts offences decreased by 15.1 per cent to 7,879 nationally.

This latter category includes recorded drink-driving offences which decreased from 8,455 to 7,158, or 15.3 per cent in the time period covered.

Fraud, deception and related offences were down by 16.6 per cent to 4,817 on the corresponding period to the end of December 2012; controlled drug offences decreased by almost 7 per cent to 15,589; weapons and explosives offences fell by 9.2 per cent to 2,848 with possession of a firearms down by 15 per cent to 214; while public order offences fell by almost 16 per cent to 37,845.