Crime rates rise in five counties, figures reveal

Overall crime levels fell by almost 2% last year, according to official Garda statistics, but crime rates actually increased in five counties, including Dublin.

An analysis of crime figures for last year showed significant variations in crime levels across the 26 counties.

It reveals Leitrim recorded the biggest percentage increase in crime rates during 2014 with overall levels up 8.8%, largely due to a 52% jump in burglaries.

However, most counties experienced a drop in overall crime levels with large decreases in Carlow where offences were down by over 12%. Sligo, in stark contrast with Leitirm which shares the same Garda division, saw crime rates fall by almost 11%. Mayo and Longford also saw overall crime levels fall by 10% in 2014.

The overall crime levels are based on 12 of the 14 main offence categories used by the Central Statistics Office to compile crime statistics and including theft, burglary, public order offences, drug offences, criminal damage and assaults. However, homicide and sexual offences are excluded from such calculations to enable comparisons on a county basis.

The analysis comes with several caveats, as the CSO itself has warned that issues remain about the ongoing accuracy of the data used to compile such figures.

The CSO had last month revealed recorded crime may be underestimated by 20% following a review of offences recorded on the Garda’s Pulse database in 2011. The CSO review followed on from a highly critical report by the Garda Inspectorate published last November into the Garda’s investigation of crime which highlighted serious inaccuracies in how the force recorded and counted crime.

The CSO suspended the publication of its quarterly crime statistics for over six months as a result of the controversy.

The latest figures show Dublin recorded the third highest jump in crime rates after Leitrim and Roscommon during 2014 with overall levels up 1.4%.

Two other counties also experienced slight rises in their crime levels last year – Meath and Monaghan.

The increase in crime in the capital was primarily driven by a 17% increase in burglaries with 12,159 break-ins reported last year and a 10% increase in drug offences. The level of assault and harassment offences also rose by 9% in Dublin last year.

Overall crime levels fall 4% in southern region

The overall crime rate in the Garda Southern Region which covers Cork, Kerry and Limerick fell by 4% in 2014, with a decrease in reported offences across all five Garda divisions.

Cork West experienced the sharpest drop in crime levels last year with overall figures down 5.3%, narrowly ahead of Limerick where there was a 5.2% reduction in crime compared to 2013.

Official figures published by the Central Statistics Office, which are in turn based on the Garda Pulse system, show there was a 4% drop in reported crimes in Cork City and 3.6% decrease in the Cork North division which covers towns including Fermoy, Mallow, Cobh, Midleton and Youghal.

The Kerry Garda division recorded the smallest decline in overall crime levels in the region last year — down just 0.3% compared to the national average of a 1.7% reduction. Although there was a 4% drop in the number of burglaries in the region in 2014, there was sharp differences in burglary levels between the different divisions.

Notable decreases in burglaries were recorded in Cork North (-17.5%) and Cork City (-10%) while levels were effectively unchanged in Limerick.

However, the number of reported burglaries jumped by more than 12% in Kerry and a more moderate 3% in Cork West. While the overall incidence of assaults and harassment offences in the Garda Southern Region was essentially static, there were again significant variations between various divisions.

Assaults were almost 23% in Cork North and by 10% in Cork City. In contrast, such crimes fell by almost 20% in Limerick last year and by 6% in Kerry. Kerry was also the only Garda division in the region to see a major increase in reported drug offences in 2014 with the number of such crimes up by 17%.

Drug-related offences were down in all four other divisions, most notably in Limerick which recorded a 9% decrease.

The most common crime — theft — increased across the region by almost 2% but again there were contrasting differences between various Garda divisions. Thefts rates rose by 9% in Kerry and by 7% in Limerick but fell in all three Garda divisions in Cork. On a more positive note, all five divisions witnessed a major decrease in public order offences during 2014 — down more than 11% on average across the region and by as much as 14% in Cork City.