Sharp drop in serious assaults due to strategy

A MAJOR decline in serious assaults in Cork city centre is being attributed to a public order policing strategy, which is set to be copied in other parts of the country.

Since 2002, when the policing strategy was first introduced, there has been a 22% drop in the number of serious assaults reported.

Minor assaults dropped by 28% over the same period, and the number of people arrested for being drunk decreased by 38%.