- Homicide and related offences down by over 33% compared to the same period in 2018
- Burglary and related offences also down by approximately 6%, continuing a downwards trend
- Increase in sexual offences reported, up 7% compared to the same period in 2018
- Offences recorded in the categories of Fraud and Drugs also show increases
The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan T.D., today noted the publication of Crime Statistics by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for Q3 2019.
The statistics released identify a decrease of over 33% in homicide offences, in part due to a significant reduction in instances of dangerous driving leading to death; and in part due to a decrease of 17% in instances of murder.
Responding to these figures, Minister Flanagan said:
The increase in threats and attempts to murder demonstrate again the challenges we face in tackling criminality and organised criminality. I commend the ongoing work of An Garda Síochána in addressing these challenges and welcome the successes which their intelligence-led approaches are delivering. In that context, I welcome the reduction in homicide and related offices this quarter.
Minister Flanagan welcomed the reduction in burglaries and related offences, which decreased by 6.3% this Quarter, continuing a downward trend in recent years. Minister Flanagan said:
I appreciate how traumatic and invasive the experience of a burglary can be, as well as the fear that they can generate for members of our communities, especially in rural areas. In that context I particularly welcome the ongoing reduction in burglaries - nationwide, they have reduced by approximately 42% since 2015. I commend the targeted action of An Garda Síochána to address these crimes, particularly through Operation Thor.
Noting the ongoing Winter Phase of Operation Thor, Minister Flanagan said:
International evidence shows a surge in burglaries in the winter months. We are now in the 5th year of implementation of a Winter Phase of Operation Thor. This operation includes crime trend analysis to identify burglary hot-spots, targeting of organised crime gangs and prolific offenders, enhanced covert surveillance and high visibility checkpoints and roads policing to limit the use of the road network by offenders. This targeted and intensive work is bringing positive results.
Minister Flanagan continued:
But in addition to this targeted policing, strengthening community engagement can play a key role in providing reassurance to the public and deterring crime. I welcome the proactive anti-burglary campaign “Lock up, Light up”, currently being run by Gardaí as well as their ongoing community engagement nationwide.
I am grateful to community-based organisations including the IFA, Neighbourhood Watch, Munitir na Tire and Crimestoppers for their partnership with Gardaí in this regard to prevent crime; and to communities who do so through schemes such as Neighbourhood Watch, TextAlert and Community Alert.
The Minister also noted the significant increase in recorded incidents of fraud, deception and related incidents of 35.1% in Q3 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018. Minister Flanagan said:
A range of measures are being taken to prevent and combat fraud, including insurance fraud. Gardaí are taking steps to ensure consistency in how reports of potential fraud are received, recorded and disseminated for investigation. Changes have also been made to the Pulse system to improve the quality and consistency of recording of insurance related crime. These steps are very significant and will assist in ensuring that we have a reliable baseline against which to compare these figures in future years.
There has been an increase of 7.1% in reported sexual offences, representing a total of 3,332 incidents this year to date. This continues an upward trend seen since Q1 2015. Minister Flanagan said:
The Government is committed to preventing and addressing sexual crime in all its forms and we are working hard, on a whole-of-Government basis, to do so. I very much welcome that more victims are coming forward to Gardaí and I urge victims to continue to do so.
The Minister added:
I strongly encourage anyone who has been the victim of such attacks to please contact An Garda Síochána and report the incident. An Garda Síochána continues the roll out of specialist services to respond to the needs of victims. A total of 13 Divisional Protective Services Unites have now been established and are expected to be rolled out in remaining Divisions by the end of Q1, 2020. The availability of these units- with specially trained officers responsible for engagement with and interviewing of victims – will support the delivery of consistent, professional and sensitive approach to the investigation of sexual crime.
I also welcome the recent announcement by the Director of Public Prosecutions that she intends to establish a specialised sexual offences unit within the next year.
The Minister added:
It is also incumbent on all of society to continue to examine behaviour and attitudes in relation to sexual crime if we are to bring about change in this area. Earlier this year I launched ‘No Excuses’, a 3 year national awareness raising campaign on sexual harassment and sexual violence, with the aim of increasing awareness of sexual violence and to bring about changes in societal attitudes. Ultimately we all have to work together, and with An Garda Síochána, to decrease and prevent these heinous offences.
The figures released identify an increase of 17% in drugs offences recorded, in particular the importation of drugs. Minister Flanagan said:
Gardaí are having significant success in targeting the supply and sale of illicit drugs. Since 2015 and to November this year, I understand that the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has been responsible for seizure of controlled substances with an estimated street value of approximately €167 million. This includes significant successes this year such as the seizure of cocaine with an estimated value of €1.4 million in Drogheda on 11 November (subject to analysis). Such seizures represent a major blow to criminal gangs, who planned to profit from selling these drugs.
Referring to the resourcing of An Garda Síochána, Minister Flanagan said:
This Government is strongly committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country. Thanks to the unprecedented resources now being made available, we now have over 14,300 Garda members nationwide, supported by over 2,900 Garda staff and we are on track to reach the Government’s target of a total of 15,000 Garda members, as part of an overall workforce of 21,000 by 2021. This puts us in an excellent position to address the ongoing challenge of tacking crime in Ireland.
Finally, the Minister also welcomed release last week of the latest Garda Public Attitudes Survey for Q3 2019. He said:
While there has been an increase in respondents who consider national crime to be either a ‘very serious’ or ‘serious’ problem (79% of respondents, an increase of 8% from Q3 2018), only 18% of respondents perceived local crime as a ‘serious’ or ‘very serious’ problem.
Trust in Gardaí is also at the highest level in the last 5 quarters – at 92%. A full 96% of respondents also agree that Gardaí would treat them with respect if they had contact with them for any reason.
I am confident that this trust will be further improved in the future, as the reform programme “A Policing Service for the Future” continues to be implemented and the new Garda Operating Model is rolled out, ensuring more locally-focused and responsive structures for the organisation.
Notes for Editor:
The full statistics can be accessed at: www.cso.ie
Deferral of the official crime statistic publication by the CSO.
In early 2018, the CSO announced its decision to resume publication of recorded crime statistics in the first six months of 2018. However, as PULSE data – on which the CSO is wholly dependent - is subject to a number of separate ongoing quality reviews and concerns that extended beyond just homicide data, the CSO made the decision that recorded crime statistics will be published in a new category entitled: “Under Reservation”.
“Under Reservation”
According to the CSO, the classification of “Under Reservation” is in keeping with other jurisdictions and other statistical domains. This indicates that, while the statistics have been determined to be of sufficient quality to allow publication, the ongoing issues mean that the quality does not yet meet the higher standard required of official statistics by the CSO.
Criteria for lifting the categorisation
The CSO is engaging with An Garda Síochána to set out the criteria for the lifting of the reservation. These criteria are not confined to homicide data but will address quality concerns across a broader range of issues. They will address issues such as data governance, training, crime data recording procedures and the auditing and monitoring of data quality.
CSO Review Quality of Recorded Crime Statistics
On 11 December 2018, the CSO published a third review of the quality of Recorded Crime statistics. The latest review is based on data recorded on the PULSE database in respect of crimes reported to An Garda Síochána (AGS) in 2017.
The review found considerable development in the quality of Recorded Crime statistics since the publication of the last CSO quality review in 2016, including:
- A marked reduction in the non-recording of reported crime incidents on PULSE
- A reduction in misclassification errors
- Improvement made in criminal incidents being recorded in a timely manner on PULSE
- Improvement made in the recording of criminal incident records subsequently marked invalid
The scope of this review expanded on previous CSO reviews to include data quality concerns arising from the examination of homicide data records during 2017 such as the correct application of crime counting principles. The CSO has also undertaken, for the first time, to assess the quality of statistics relating to crimes with a discriminatory motive and domestic abuse. The CSO concludes that further work is needed to improve the accuracy of recording in these areas, and work is underway in that regard.
Garda resources
A record €1.76 billion was allocated to the Garda Vote for 2019 and this is increasing further to an unprecedented €1.882 billion for 2020.
Significant capital investment is also being made, amounting to a total of €92 million this year and rising further to over €116 million in 2020. This includes investment of €342 million in Garda ICT infrastructure between 2016 and 2021 to enable An Garda Síochána to deliver on reform and deploy the latest cutting edge technologies in delivering professional policing and security services for the community.