McDowell welcomes 3% crime drop
The Garda Síochána Annual Report published yesterday, however, showed a 22% rise in serious crime nationwide in 2002.
But provisional crime figures supplied by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy to the minister show there was a reversal of this trend up to September this year with a 3% drop in overall crime rates.
The minister said the negative trend in crime for 2002 and 2001 appears to have stabilised this year with a marked decrease in most categories.
Mr McDowell particularly welcomed the drop in violent crimes, with a 26% reduction in the number of assaults causing harm in the first nine months of this year.
“That strategy is that the gardaí will be given the resources to investigate crime, the courts the resources to deal effectively with criminal cases, and there will be sufficient prison places to ensure that those convicted of crime will serve the sentences imposed on them by the courts,” he said.
The 2002 crime figures published in the report yesterday were first published by Mr McDowell in April this year.
While they show a 22% rise in serious crime, an unquantifiable part of this increase is due to improved recording rates the Garda PULSE IT system has delivered.
An Expert Group on Crime Statistics engaged by the minister to examine the reliability and consistency of the statistics will report to him early next year.
While there was also a 4% rise in non-serious crime last year, the new computer system will help Gardaí tackle public order and anti-social behaviour.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said in his 2002 annual report that he was concerned about the continued rise in public order offences but that Operation Encounter, launched in 2002, has been a great help in tackling it.
The commissioner said gardaí also had considerable success in tackling dissident republicans and organised crime.
While serious crime increased to 106,415 last year, gardaí had a 39% successful detection rate, the minister said.
In 2002, Limerick had the highest murder rate outside of Dublin. The annual report reveals that there were 3.6 murders per 100,000 people compared to an average of 2.59 in Dublin Garda districts and 3.01 in Cork City.
