Burglaries on the rise especially in belturbet

Martin Shannon

Burglaries have increased significantly in the Cavan District in the first eight months of this year with the Belturbet area in particular targeted by the thieves.
The figures were detailed by Chief Superintendent Jim Sheridan at the meeting of the County Cavan Joint Policing Committee (JPC) last week.
There were 164 burglaries reported in the district from January to August 2015, compared to 102 in 2014. The main cause, according to the chief super, has been an increase in the Belturbet area from seven in 2014 to 41 in the same period of 2015.
“There were also increases in the Ballinagh area from four to 19, Killeshandra from three to 14 and Kilnaleck from eight to 18. However in the same period there was a decrease in the Cavan urban area from 71 to 60,” outlined Chief Supt Sheridan.
The instances in the Belturbet area occurred in January (2), February (3), March (2), April (5), May (8), June (8), July (9) and August (4).”

Tools and lawnmowers targeted
The chief super said that there had been an increase in the theft of tools and lawnmowers (11), which is so far this year on par with the theft of cash and jewellery. 
There were three instances of the theft of computer games, two thefts of building materials, two thefts of cigarettes, two thefts of TV sets and one instance each of the theft of heating oil and copper.
Chief Supt Sheridan added that in five instances nothing was taken and patrols in the area have been increased, a number of arrests have been made and Garda enquiries are ongoing.
Regarding the theft of tools and lawnmowers, he said that progress is being made on their detection.

Call for vigilance
Superintendent James Coen said in the Belturbet area the theft of tools and lawnmowers accounted for a lot of the crimes, which were opportunistic. He called for the public to be more aware of what was happening around their homes.
“Recently, a marked patrol car drove in a long lane to check on a farmyard property but it was 15 minutes before the occupant of the premises noticed them. If you leave your property unattended in an insecure area, people will take it. People are coming from elsewhere to steal and distance is no object to criminals. Recently three individuals from outside the area were apprehended and, of those, one was from Dublin, and one from the midlands,” said Supt Coen.
He further advised homeowners not to leave valuable tools in unsecure sheds.
“We have set up 300 checkpoints this year, 27 vehicles have been seized and a significant number of people have been arrested but we need the help of everybody in the community. However we also want to acknowledge the huge support we receive from the community and thank them for that,” he added.
Later in the meeting, Sergeant Alan Roughneen said that a pilot programme in Tipperary, which saw stencilled marking of such machinery, has proved very successful so far. He also suggested that people should note the serial numbers or stencil mark all gardening and other tools for identification when they are recovered.