Rural crime on the rise, says report

There has been a slight drop in criminal activity in the first six months of the year according to the Netwatch Commercial Crime survey.

Weekends see the most criminal incidents, with 37% of activity on Saturday and Sunday.

Most incidents are recorded in our main cities, but there has been an increase in rural crime.

Therese Cullen of Netwatch explained the findings.

"The latest figures from the half-year commercial crime report show 2,529 incidents - which is a decease of criminal activity after several years of continuous increases," she said.

"The majority of the incidents are in urban areas - obviously with the crime rates being higher there.

"But what we've seen is that the rural areas have had increase, where urban areas have had deceases in crime."