Crime figures well down this year
By TONY GALVIN THERE is a good news story from An Garda SÃÂochána this Christmas who have released their crime figures for the county area of the Galway Division, which show that crime levels have decreased significantly over the year. Overall crime figures in the Galway Division are down 10 per cent, bucking the national trend and ending the year with a note of encouragement from the Garda SÃÂochána. [private] The figures were released to a meeting of the county's Joint Policing Committee on Monday and were broadly welcomed by the members who congratulated the Gardai on what was described by the incoming Chairman of the JPC, Cllr Pete Roche, as a fine showing they could be proud of. Once again one of the major decreases is in the number of people being arrested for drunk driving offences. 271 arrests were recorded, a drop of almost one quarter on 2010. Chief Supt Donal O Cualáin pointed out that it was a very good indicator that the message was getting through on drink and driving. He compared the 2,776 mandatory alcohol breath test checkpoints set up during the year and the 22,300 breath tests performed, with the significant fall in those detected, saying this indicated that people were less inclined to take risks where alcohol and driving were concerned. There were 13 fatalities on the county's roads during the year, up one on the 2010 figure, but he pointed out that 2010 was a historic low for road fatalities. Chief Supt O Cualáin said that he was particularly pleased to see theft figures dropping, especially in the case of burglaries. While this was a very difficult crime for an individual to come to terms with, the public in general could take some comfort from the statistics. Thefts from cars are down 16.2 per cent, from shops 16.3 per cent and general thefts are down 7.3 per cent. The only area showing an increase is theft from the person, which is up by 100 percent. However, he explained that this was from a low base of seven last year to 14 in 2011, and the rise could be accounted for by thefts of mobile phones. Burglaries in the area are down almost 10 per cent. There were 447 reported incidents this year. Chief Supt O Cualáin said the Garda were trying to raise awareness in this regard. Burglaries not planned He explained that the simple fact of the matter is that most burglaries are opportunistic rather than planned. The hallmark of the typical burglary was someone finding a window or a patio door open and taking a chance, rather than a planned crime. He advised people to become more security conscious about their homes and not make it so easy for the opportunistic thief. On the drugs front there was an increase in convictions for both sale and supply (51) and possession (116). The Gardai had significant success in operations against cannabis grow-houses which he described as sophisticated set-ups. As a result the street value of cannabis seized this year is €829,375. The value of heroin seized is €11,540. In keeping with trends in recessionary times, the Chief Supt. said public order incidents were down by 20 per cent this year. Assaults causing harm were up by 13.5 per cent while more minor assaults were at the same level as 2011. [/private]