Crime figures - Enough talk, time to act on crime

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has it within his remit to do something positive about the level of crime, instead of merely bemoaning the increase around the country.

In his own words, in relation to the increase in the first quarter of this year, it is a “wake-up call” for the entire system.

The fact that more gardaí are needed to play a high visibility role in the community was never more conspicuous than it is today, as the figures from his own department reveal.

The simple fact of the matter is that there is a lack of manpower in the force, and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy practically said as much recently.

He admitted that drug-related gun crime now required so many garda resources to contain it that detection rates for other crimes had suffered.

According to the Department of Justice yesterday, there was, in the first three months of this year, an increase of 8% in serious crime, including 12 murders, as compared to seven in the same period last year.

While this represents an increase of 71%, it is relevant to point out, as the minister did, that some of them were the result of very sad family tragedies.

Nonetheless, the increase in this crime is perturbing, as is the rise in gangland killings, and the lower level of detection for them must remain a cause for concern, as Mr McDowell acknowledges.

It is reassuring that there was a decrease in the number of manslaughters, reported rapes, cash-in-transit robberies and firearms offences.

Credit should be given for garda successes in drug hauls, which is usually attended also by some arms captures, and some of them have been quite dramatic.

They are performing an immeasurable duty to society by removing such potentially lethal substances from being distributed throughout the community.

Because most of the increase in crime related to offences against property, including burglary, the minister said he would be allocating a further e10 million to a special garda operation to tackle such crimes.

That is good as far as it goes, but it means focusing resources on a particular area and consequently, to use the Garda Commissioner’s yardstick, detection rates in other crimes will suffer.

Insofar as the minister, or garda management, pursue a policy of concentrating on particular areas, the overall crime dilemma will never be contained.

Applying the “special garda operation” principle to a problem may, or may not, resolve it, but it is essentially only playing a numbers game.

Right now the numbers just do not add up.

Until the minister and the Government confront the fact that the fundamental problem is that the garda force is undermanned, so long will we face increasing crime levels.

The problem may have been mitigated had the Justice Minister delivered the extra 2,000 gardaí he promised before the last General Election, and which he did not.

The fact that the promise was made in the first place was a recognition that the force needed to be boosted, and that it is an issue near the top of the public’s anxiety.

So, too, is his proposal to introduce a reserve force whose role should be to release gardaí from administrative duties, allowing them to concentrate on what they do best.