Crime figures rise post-pandemic
Latest crime figures released from the Central Statistic Office (CSO) confirm as expected that crime in Meath is on the rise again after the pandemic.
The CSO figures for the second quarter of this year showed burglary offences were at 128, up from 83 for the same period last year, a rise of 54 per cent, and well above the 56 offences recorded at the height of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020, when people had to stay at home. However, they still fall below the pre-pandemic figures of 142 recorded in 2019.
Figures for the full year up to the end of June 2022, show a total of 413 burglaries were recorded, up from 347 the previous year.
Fraud, deception and related offences are also on the rise in Meath from 431 a year ago, to in the year to 533 for the year up to the end of June. This is a trend that is also reflected nationally.
For the second quarter of 2022, there were 139 such offences recorded up from 54 during the same three-month period a year ago.
The number of rapes and sexual assaults stood at 27 in the second quarter of 2022, down from 28 for the same period last year.
Other figures show drink driving incidents rose from 58 in the second quarter of 2021 to 71 for the same period this year. The number of drug driving cases stayed the same at 5.
Assaults for the second quarter were largely unchanged but incidents of assault causing harm fell from 37 to 29. Incidents of criminal damage rose dramatically from 119 to 153.
Drugs offences saw a decrease from 131 incidents in the second quarter of 2021 to 90 for the same period this year.
Nationally, recorded crime statistics showed that most categories of crime were up in the 12 months to June 2022 compared to a year earlier.
Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Fraud crime showed the highest rate of increase (+43 per cent) with 16,202 frauds recorded in the 12-month period compared to 11,325 a year earlier. This increase was largely driven by unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone.
"Among other crime categories, the highest rates of increase were in Kidnapping & Related offences (+36 per cent), Theft & Related offences (+23 per cent) and Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & related offences (+21 per cent).
"In contrast, Homicide & Related offences fell by 38 per cent over the year as did Controlled Drug offences (-27 per cent) and Weapons and Explosives offences (-11 per cent).
Noting the increase in fraud, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said: “The continued increase in incidents of fraud is concerning, particularly as the findings published today indicate that most of the fraudulent activity recorded relates to attempts to obtain people’s personal or banking information. Every person in Ireland deserves to feel safe and to be safe when they conduct their personal business online or over the phone - trying to trick people out of their personal information or hard-earned money is predatory and the reality is that anybody can fall victim to it.
“That is why we all need to be alert to the risk of fraud - I urge anyone conducting sensitive or personal business online or over the phone to be very cautious when providing personal or banking information. Many of the financial institutions have excellent advice for customers on how to be safe online, as does the Citizens’ Information website.”
“I note that there have been increases amongst many crime categories. It is important to note that in many cases these represent a return to pre-pandemic trends - a number of key crime categories decreased during periods of lockdown in 2020 and 2021 with people spending much more time at home. These figures represent a decrease on the 2019 figures for burglary and related offences which is a more reliable comparison. Targeted Garda activities such as Operation Thor are clearly having a positive impact.”