SERIOUS CRIME including sexual assaults and gangland offences fell in the first three months of the year, with robbery the only crime type to record an increase.
The latest crime data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows gun and drug crime has continued to decrease as the drugs trade appears to have been hit by a recession-driven fall in demand for drugs from recreational users.
Burglaries, which were rising because of the recession, showed a near 3 per cent decrease in the first quarter of the year.
There were 16 murders in the first quarter, a rise of one on the same period last year.
The number of homicides – which include both murders and manslaughters – was significantly reduced, falling to 18 cases, down seven on the first quarter of last year.
Sexual offences were down 6 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, with 8 per cent fewer rapes reported to gardaí. Murder attempts, threats and related offences were down almost 18 per cent while kidnapping and related offences fell by almost a third.
The only one of the 15 crime categories detailed by the CSO to record an increase in the first quarter of the year was robbery offences. These include robberies from people, from banks and other institutions and from security vans carrying cash. There was a 24 per cent increase in these offences.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern welcomed the overall figures, saying they proved the Garda’s and Government’s work on tackling crime was working.
“However, there are no grounds for complacency, and the Garda commissioner [Fachtna Murphy] and I are determined that the ongoing work in tackling crime will continue.”
Mr Ahern said he was particularly pleased at the reduction in gun and drug crime over the first three months of the year but he remained concerned at the sale of legal highs in head shops.
“In addition to measures being taken to deal with this menace under the Misuse of Drugs Acts, I am finalising proposals which I will bring to Government in the next week or so to ensure that the full weight of the criminal justice system is brought to bear on those who trade in what are sold as ‘legal highs’.”
Despite the overall fall of 18 per cent in murder threats and attempts and a range of related offences, Fine Gael’s spokesman on justice, Charlie Flanagan, pointed out the specific offence of murder threat had increased by 60 per cent, to 85 cases.
“We are in the grip of a gangland crisis and the Government is losing the war on drugs,” Mr Flanagan said.
Burglaries were down by almost 3 per cent. This fall follows a sustained rise in burglaries across the country since the recession started.
Offences most clearly associated with gangland crime, including drugs and gun crime, have dropped considerably.
While there have been seven gangland killings so far this year, overall gun crime fell by 11 per cent in the first quarter. The crime of discharging a firearm fell by 31 per cent, while possession of a firearm was down by 9 per cent in the first quarter.
Drugs offences were down by almost 18 per cent.
Gardaí believe the fall in drug and gun crime is directly linked to the recession. Most of the drugs boom since the late 1990s was fuelled by demand for recreational drugs.
Gardaí believe thousands of young men who found well-paid jobs during the construction boom, and in other sectors, were spending hundreds of euros on drugs, particularly cocaine, every weekend. Many of these have now lost their jobs and no longer have the disposable income to fuel recreational drug use.
Gardaí believe drugs gangs have lost a lot of money and the parallel fall in gun crime is reflective of key gangs not carrying out as many shootings to collect drugs debts.