MAJOR DROP IN CRIME RATES ACROSS KERRY

NEW CRIME STATISTICS SHOW A MAJOR DROP IN CRIME RATES ACROSS KERRY

THE first three months of the year has seen a sharp decline in the number of serious criminal offences in Kerry, according to the latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

The new figures from the CSO – for the first quarter of 2016 – show that the number burglary, theft and public order offences over have dropped considerably compared to the same period in 2015.

However, drug offences county-wide are on the up – year on year – as the CSO recorded a 25 per cent increase in the number of people being prosecuted for possession of drugs for personal use.

The largest percentage drop seen in Kerry was in the number of burglary offences recorded by Gardaí.

This decreased by almost 60 per cent from 197 in the first six months of 2015 to just 81 in the same period this year.

The CSO figures also showed a decrease in the number of thefts which fell by 24 per cent.

Meanwhile public order offences fell by 15 per cent and criminal damage was down by one third.

Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan said that communities must continue to pull together in light of the positive figures released by the CSO.

“Kerry is one of the safest counties in the whole of Ireland and I think that these figures show that,” he said.

“An Garda Síochána will ensure that older people in particular can enjoy their older days and get out of the house without the fear of intrusion by other people,” added the Superintendent.

While the figures contain much good news for Kerry in the national context the number of public order of- fences here remains extremely high compared with most rural counties.

Outside of the major cities Kerry had the second highest rate of public order offending in the country.

In all 304 public order offences were recorded in Kerry. This was the second highest figure for any rural county and was just behind Donegal, where 312 public order offences were recorded.

Only Dublin, Cork city, Galway and Limerick had higher public order arrest figures.

The figure for Limerick city and county was only slightly higher than Kerry at 315.

In fact Kerry’s public order offence rate was higher than the individual public order offending rates recorded in Dublin’s Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Divisions.

In the capital only the North and South Central garda divisions recorded more public order offences than Kerry.