Data does not show a knife crime epidemic, according to Garda Commissioner

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Reports of an “epidemic” in knife crime are not borne out by Garda and HSE data, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said.

Speaking at the Policing Authority, Drew Harris also said:

• The huge increase this year in Garda enforcement of Covid-19 breaches, particularly through fines, was “proportionate to the threat” society faced;
• He did not think the frustration among business people, as seen in cases of hairdressers and gyms breaking the law by reopening, amounted to “unrest”;
• There had been a “worrying” increase last month in the online extortion of people, particularly young people, duped into sharing intimate images online. 

Questioned about the recent spate of knife attacks, some fatal, Mr Harris said the figures on both knife-related crime and hospital injuries from knives “do not bear out the narrative we see so often in the media” of an “epidemic” or a “huge spike in knife crime”.

Figures given to the authority show:

• Knife-related crimes decreased from 1,689 in 2010 to 1,333 in 2020, though it has increased since 2016 (1,199), but down on 2019 (1,534);
• Hospital discharges for assaults involving knives dropped from 230 in 2010 to 178 in 2019 — but it has increased since 2018 (164);
• Seizures of knives increased dramatically in recent years, from 1,171 in 2016 to 2,243 in 2020. 

Mr Harris said the increase in seizures in 2017 was due to a change in the recording system, from paper to electronic, while further increases in 2019 were due to more proactive policing and in 2020 to substantial Covid-19-related stops.

He said there were 88,000 stops in 2019, increasing to 108,000 in 2020.

It [the data] does not bear out the narrative we see so often in the media, there has not been a huge spike in knife crime … it is not reaching epidemic proportions.

He added: “Some of the things portrayed — that there are large numbers of young people carrying knives — are not borne out by our statistics, neither are they borne out by the crimes we’ve seen.”

Mr Harris said this “should not detract” from serious incidents recently.

The commissioner also there had been a “worrying” increase in online frauds, up 40% on last year, saying that two-thirds of the cases last month involved extortion or blackmail of people, mostly aged 14 to 25, who have duped into sharing intimate images online.

He also expressed condolences to the family of George Nkencho, fatally shot by gardaí on December 30.