Figures show reduction in drug related crime across North Cork Garda divison

THE latest set of recorded crime figures for the final three months of 2018 covering the Cork North Garda division have shown a marked decrease in the number of controlled drug related offences when compared to the previous quarter.

The figures for the final quarter (October – December) of 2018, compiled and released by the Central Statics Office (CSO), detail the number of crimes reported to Gardaí across the division, which covers Mallow, Fermoy, Midleton, Cobh and Youghal.

This was the fifth quarterly release following the decision to resume publication of crime statistics under using the category of ‘Statistics Under Reservation’.

This category was introduced to highlight concerns regarding the quality of underlying data from An Garda Síochána’s PULSE database.

While the CSO last December said it noticed improvements in the way Gardaí recorded crime figures, a spokesperson said the categorisation would remain in place until such a time as the CSO was “satisfied that the level of accuracy and completeness of the underlying data is of sufficient quality”.

The latest figures showed the number of drug related offences recorded for the division across the final quarter of 2018 stood at 141, a 36.6 per cent decrease on the total for the previous quarter of 223.

The most notable reduction within this category was the number of possessions of drugs for personal use, which fell from 180 to 106. There was also a reduction in the number of possession for sale or supply offences from 37 to 26. However, the number of cultivation offences had risen from four to six.

The figures have shown that the message about drinking and driving seems to be hitting home with motorist across the division, with the number of recorded detections dropping from 77 to 67. The figure for drug driving also dropped from five to three.

The number of crimes recoded under the public order and other social code offences dropped from 238 to 200 when compared to the previous quarter. The most notable drop under that particular heading was for disorderly conduct, which fell from 220 incidents in quarter three to 186.

The number of recorded incidents of criminal damage also decreased over the period from 102 to 94.

The number of recorded sexual offences remained static at 21.

However, there were increases too in certain crimes over the period, with the number of recorded assaults rising from 16 to 26, burglaries from 52 to 74 and fraud/deception and related offences increasing from 26 to 52.

To see the full figures follow the link on the home page at www.cso.ie.