PSNI blame recession for rise in burglaries

A sharp rise in the number of burglaries and thefts was linked to the recession by police today.

Annual crime figures released for the North showed there was an overall increase in the number of offences over the last year.

But despite a jump in seven of the nine main areas of crime, Chief Constable Hugh Orde said police clearance rates were also up, while overall crime rates declined over the last seven years.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland annual statistics for 2008/09 recorded 110,094 crimes, an increase of 1.5% on the previous year, while the number of crimes cleared by police rose from 20.5% to 23%.

The increase in dissident republican activity also featured prominently in the new figures with the murders in March of soldiers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey, plus the subsequent murder of Pc Stephen Carroll, representing the first police and army deaths since 1998.

Orde said: “We have received additional funding to deal with the increase in the security threat and my officers are working hard to disrupt and bring to justice those who are involved in this criminal activity.

“While the increased threat does impact upon the style and delivery of our service in some areas, we are determined that it will not prevent us working with communities to tackle crime.”

But he said the economic downturn could be linked to a spike in some crime.

“The numbers of burglaries and thefts have increased by 6.6% and 6.1%,” he said.

“There has also been an increase in the number of robberies and armed robberies.

“Last year the Home Office predicted that the recession would have an impact on acquisitive crime such as theft, robbery and burglary.

“This trend seems to be borne out in GB and it is clearly impacting upon crime trends here as well.

“However, police are continuing to deploy resources and run operations such as Operation Heartbreak to deal with the increase in this type of crime.”

Offences against the person and criminal damage fell last year, but rates increased in the other main crime categories.

:: Sexual offences increased by 121 offences (+6.6%), burglaries increased by 776 (+6.6%), robberies by 140 (+12.2%), thefts went up by 1,508 (+6.1%), fraud and forgery by 793 (+28.4%), offences against the state by 275 (+24.3%) and other notifiable offences increased by 599 (+12.8%).

:: Violent crime (ie offences against the person, sexual offences and robberies) increased by 149 offences (+0.5%).

:: There were 23,591 incidents with a domestic abuse motivation, an increase of 515 (+2.2%).

:: There were 1,595 sectarian incidents (+0.7% on last year), 990 racist incidents (+1.4%), 179 homophobic incidents (+11.9%), 46 faith/religion incidents (-32.4%), 44 disability incidents (-10.2%) and 10 transphobic incidents (+42.9%).

:: Most types of hate crime decreased, but homophobic crimes increased by 20 offences (+17.5%) and racist crimes by 14 (+1.8%). Hate crime clearance rates increased except for faith/religion crime which was down 4.7%.

Orde said: “Police are committed to continuing to tackling all types of violent crime.

“We have established public protection units within each district command unit to tackle child abuse and domestic abuse, to respond to vulnerable and missing people and to manage violent and sexual offenders in the community.

“The rape crime unit, which was established in 2008, has led to a much more consistent and co-ordinated approach to the investigation of rape.

“Operations are in place on an ongoing basis to tackle assaults and violence associated with the night-time economy.”

He added: “In terms of murder, 24 offences were recorded this year, and the clearance rate for murder increased by almost 20% to 83.3%.

“A huge amount of time and effort has been dedicated to investigating murders and serious crime by staff in Crime Operations Department and officers out in the Districts. It is clear that the establishment of Crime Operations has led to a more professional and co-ordinated approach to serious crime investigations.”

Last year’s five security-related deaths were blamed on dissident republicans.

The Real IRA killed Sappers Quinsey and Azimkar at Massereene army base in Antrim on March 7, with Pc Carroll shot dead by the Continuity IRA in Craigavon two days later.

Convicted drug dealer Jim McConnell, 38, was shot dead in Derry in February after dissidents threatened to target the drugs trade, despite separate reports linking dissidents to drug dealing.

There was a public outcry in Derry last June when gunmen shot dead 22-year-old pizza delivery man Emmett Shiels.

On the security front, there were 54 shooting incidents, 12 more than last year, while bombing incidents doubled to 46, though both are lower than earlier in the decade.

There were 20 casualties resulting from paramilitary-style shootings, compared to 13 last year, with loyalists responsible for two and the remainder carried out by republicans.

Paramilitary-style assaults fell from 45 last year to 41, with loyalists responsible for 28 and republicans responsible for the remaining 13.

The numbers arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act jumped by nearly a third to 174. Forty were later charged, compared to 34 last year.

Meanwhile, police carried out 3,198 drug seizures, an increase of 7.7%, with 2,014 people arrested for drug offences, an increase of 6.2%.

Seizures of cocaine increased from 17.9kg last year to 24.2kg, but the amount of ecstasy tablets seized fell from 244,720 to 34,404 tablets.

Seizures of cannabis increased by 11.9% to 2,484 incidents, but the seizures of cannabis plants rose from 4,006 last year to 30,904 plants.

Road traffic collisions resulted in 106 deaths, plus 998 seriously injured and 8,367 people slightly injured, representing four fewer deaths and 78 fewer persons seriously injured.

Orde said: “When I took up the post of chief constable in 2002, I was very clear that there was a need for the police to work in partnership with the community to prevent and drive down crime.”

He said progress was being made on improving structures, but he said it was important to remember that the statistics represented real people.

“We will continue our efforts to prevent people becoming victims of crime and, where crimes occur, bringing those responsible to justice,” he said.