Significant fall in crime rate reported

Recorded incidents of crime fell dramatically during the second quarter compared to the same three-month period a year earlier.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show notable decreases in the number of offences recorded for murders, assaults, sex crimes, drug offences, robberies, dangerous or negligent acts, and public order offences.

Attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences were down 15 per cent in the second quarter of 2011 as against the same quarter in 2010. In addition, dangerous or negligent acts recorded fell by 26.3 per cent, while controlled drug offences were down 19.1 per cent, and public order offences dropped 17.7 per cent.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter welcomed the decreases in all of the 14 crime groups, saying the figures were "very encouraging."

He attributed the decline in crime levels to prevention strategies employed by the gardaí.

The latest figures shows a particularly dramatic decline in homicides - which include murder, manslaughter, infanticide and dangerous driving leading to death - with such offences falling by 39 per cent from 23 in the second quarter of 2010 to 14 per cent for the same quarter this year.

On an annual basis, the number of homicide offences recorded fell by 14.3 per cent from 84 to 72.

During the second quarter there were 10 recorded murder and manslaughter offences compared to 13 for the same period in 2010. On an annual basis the number of murder and manslaughter offences recorded fell by 10.5 per cent from 57 to 51.

The number of sexual offences recorded fell by over 37 per cent from 667 in the second quarter of 2010 to 416 in the same quarter for this year. Sexual assault offences fell by almost half over the same period and on an annual basis were down 3.8 per cent.

However, the CSO stated that in 2010 there had been a rise in the number of recorded sexual offence due to a widespread review of cases reported to An Garda Siochána, leading to some crimes being reclassified.

Kidnapping and related offences decreased by 61 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same three-month period a year earlier. On an annual basis kidnappings were down 31 per cent from 145 to 100.

Robberies from individuals were down 18.1 per cent from 481in the second quarter of 2011 as against 394 in the same quarter last year. However, there was a 12 per cent rise from 1,645 to 1,847 on an annual basis.

Non-aggravated burglaries fell by 1.6 per cent to 5,928 in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the same three-month period in 2010, while aggravated burglary offences increased by over 8 per cent from 72 to 78 over the same period.

For the 12-month period ending in June 2011, recorded burglary offences decreased by 3.8 per cent to 24,918.

Harassment and related offences fell by 28.6 per cent from 569 in the second quarter of 2010 to 406 in the same quarter of this year, while assaults fell by 11.4 per cent from 944 to 836. However, on an annual basis murder threats rose by 17.6 per cent from 312 to 367.

The number of recorded dangerous or negligent acts committed fell by over 26.3 per cent to 2,401 when compared in the second quarter compared to the same three-month period a year earlier. Most recorded offences in the group related to drink-driving offences which fell by 23 per cent from 2,884 to 2,220.

Recorded fraud and deception related offences fell by 11.2 per cent from the second quarter of 2010 to the same quarter a year later but were up 28 per cent on an annual basis.

In the second quarter of 2011 there were 4,445 controlled drug offences recorded, down 19.1 per cent from the same quarter last year.

The number of weapon and explosive offences recorded fell by almost one-quarter from the second quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of this year with possession of a firearm crimes down over 25 per cent from 90 to 67.

Recorded arson offences decreased by 16.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2011, while public order offences were down by 17.7 per cent.

There were 1,831 offences against Government, justice procedures and organisation of crime recorded in the second quarter of 2011, a fall of almost 40 per cent when compared with the same period in 2010.