Cork break-ins blamed on Dublin criminals
Senior gardaí have expressed concern at the hike in break-ins.
They have also released details of trends showing the areas being targeted and the most likely time burglaries occur.
Chief Superintendent Michael Finn said that since November, there had been a notable increase in burglaries in the city.
Figures showed 43% of all burglaries in the city were recorded in the Togher garda district, which covers such areas as Passage West, Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Bishopstown and Wilton.
Anglesea Street garda station which covers the city centre along with Blackrock, Mahon and parts of Ballyphehane had 20% while the two garda districts on the northside of the city, Gurranabraher and Mayfield had 18% and 19%, respectively.
Chief Supt Finn said cash and jewellery accounted for 47% of the items stolen, as they were easy to offload.
He said electronic equipment was next highest, accounting for 14.8% of all stolen items.
“Three to four years ago, the majority of burglaries occurred at night but that had changed,” he said. “Most now occur in the afternoons and early evenings.”
Garda analysts warn the peak times for burglaries were around 1pm on Tuesdays and 8pm on Fridays.
Gardaí have not elaborated further on the likely times but indicated patrols were “targeting hot spot areas” at those times.
Chief Supt Finn said gardaí had intelligence which pointed to Dublin-based criminals arriving in Cork to engage in raids. Detectives believe suspect the criminals have local contacts and stakeout residential areas during the daytime to see who is coming and going.
Gardaí say criminals try to blend into the areas they target while on stakeouts and are unlikely to dress shadily or sit in old cars.
Instead, the new breed of criminal was likely to be well-dressed and use a relatively new car.
Chief Supt Finn told a meeting of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee that the most common means of entry into a house were through windows, while insecure doors at the side and back of the building presented further risks.
He added that many householders were very lax with their security measures during the day.
“Many of them have alarms but they don’t turn them on when they leave for work. They only turn them on at night. There’s no point having an alarm if you don’t turn it on whenever you go out,” said Chief Supt Finn.
Cllr Kenneth O’Flynn (FF) said three weeks ago an attempt was made to steal a safe from his office in Blackpool. The thieves, he claimed, had tried, unsuccessfully, to push it out of a window.
“I spoke to the gardaí in Mallow Road and they told me there had been 11 burglaries, in their area alone, the same weekend,” the councillor said.
