Drugs crimes rise while sex offences decline - CSO figures

Crimes related to drugs spiked almost 16% in the 12 months to the end of March this year, while the number of year-on-year sexual offences reported has dropped for the first time in almost six years, official figures have revealed.

In relation to homicides, the number of recorded in the year to the first quarter of 2020 was lower than for the previous year by 12 — a drop of just under 17%.

Driving while impaired by drugs doubled, statistics showed.

According to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of incidents deemed criminal in relation to the misuse of drugs rose by 3,003, or 15.7%, to 22,166 in the yearly period up to the first three months of 2020, compared with the previous year.

The number of crime incidents in sexual offence categories fell by 4.6% in the year, the CSO said.

This was the first year-on-year decrease in recorded sexual offences since the third quarter of 2014, the CSO said.

In relation to homicides, CSO statisticians warned that some care should be taken when interpreting this fall, as the more recent figure may rise as investigations into fatal road accidents and incidents conclude.

The combined number of murder and manslaughter incidents fell by one over the year.

In relation to the homicide level dropping by 12, the number of murders in the past year to the end of March 2020 actually increased by two, while manslaughter cases fell by three.

The falloff in numbers was due to the number of dangerous driving cases leading to death, which dropped by 12 over the period.

There was a huge spike in the number of recorded incidents of driving under the influence of drugs, the CSO said.

The number of incidents increased by 825 to a total of 1,540 for the year to the first quarter of 2020.

This was more than double the previous year’s figure, the CSO said. Incidents of drink driving fell by 785, or -11%, over the same period, it added.

There were more than 440 added threats to murder or assault, an increase of just over 2%, while kidnappings fell by five to 133.

Weapons and explosives offences rose by more than 11%, with an extra 281 cases being included in the yearly statistics.

Public order offences dropped by 2.5%, or more than 800. Although not officially linked by CSO data, gardaí suggest strong anecdotal evidence that such crimes fall when alcohol is taken out of social situations — an indication that the closure of pubs during the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on so-called alcohol-related street crime.

The CSO said the number of offences regarding fraud and deception rose by just under 15%, or more than 1,000 incidents, in the annual period to the end of March, compared to the same period last year.

Recorded crime statistics are compiled exclusively from administrative records created and maintained by An Garda Síochána, using the policing body's PULSE system.

Crime incidents are classified by type according to a set of approximately 200 different incident types such as murder, assault, and burglary, the CSO said.

The Cork-based statistics body warned, however, that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic would make a difference to the number of crimes recorded in the first three months of 2020. Travel and other restrictions "are likely to impact" the number of crimes reported, it said.