Burglaries down 30%

BURGLARIES are down by 30% since the start of the year amid the coronavirus restrictions, according to crime figures seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday.

But sources said aggravated burglaries, although based on small numbers, were up by a quarter compared with the first six months of last year, as more people were likely to be at home during raids.

Incidents of loan sharks and drug dealers demanding debt payment by causing harm to a person also doubled in the first six months.

The unprecedented rise is being blamed on debts being ‘called in’ as the nation went into lockdown.

‘That’s a trend. It’s drug dealers or loan sharks calling in debts essentially and that has been a trend since the start of lockdown,’ a source said.

Aggravated burglaries are up by a quarter, though this is based on relatively small numbers, while assaults on gardaí rose by a fifth.

The figures obtained by the MoS show how policing has been transformed at a time of a global health emergency.

An informed source told the MoS the figures show how lockdown measures imposed in March at an instant impact on crime and policing.

While drug detection levels and domestic violence crimes rose dramatically, road crashes and crimes such as burglaries and assaults fell.

The MoS has learned that drug offences are up significantly because of ‘massive’ detection rates as a result of the huge Garda presence on the ground.

Drugs for sale or supply are up 30% while gardaí around the country have conducted over 40,000 searches under the Drugs Act, a very ‘significant and proactive’ figure.

A source explained how the detection rates have been considerable during the lockdown period.

Sexual offences are down ‘very significantly’ by around 30%, but disturbingly domestic violence incidents are up by over 25%.

There were fears victims of domestic violence would suffer hugely during the pandemic with people being urged to stay home.

This week Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan told the Dáil the issue remains a priority for the gardaí who he praised as having a ‘real sense of purpose’ throughout the pandemic.

On our roads, serious collisions are down 30%, but roads deaths are up from 55 last year to 60 so far this year.

The number of burglaries and thefts has fallen sharply when compared to last year’s figures.

Property crime is all down 25% as people all over the country were encouraged to stay safe and stay home. A source said: ‘Violent property crime is down 20% and burglaries are down 30%. These are all significant figures.’

Thefts have also fallen, with thefts from the person dropping by 40% and thefts from shops falling by a quarter. Vehicle thefts are also down significantly

Robberies are also down by similar percentages, as are public order and criminal damage offences.

Bucking this trend, however, is aggravated burglary, which although based on small numbers, has seen a significant increase of more than a quarter.

The number of murders in the country in the first six months is 16, compared with 12 in the same period last year.

A source said: ‘Assaults are down, but there has still been around 3,000 assaults to date this year, a sizeable number.’

Figures showed that there have been 88 incidents of people spitting or coughing on gardaí since April 8. Gardaí have had to use anti-spit guards 63 times in that time.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the incidents were ‘unacceptable’.