Increases in homicide, robbery, extortion, hijacking and assaults, CSO figures show

Cases of homicide and theft-related offences are up significantly in the latest CSO statistics on reported crime.

Figures released on Tuesday show increases in several categories of crime in the year to March 31st, 2023.

One notable exception was the number of reported cases of fraud, deception and related offences, which fell by 41 per cent. The CSO said the drop in fraud may have been related to people becoming more educated about online fraud and enhanced Garda activity.

Examining the reported crime figures in the 12 months to the end of March, the CSO found:

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* Theft and related offences rose by 36 per cent. Theft from shops, which contributed to nearly half of this increase, was up by 37 per cent over the year.

* Homicide and related offences up by 28 per cent

* Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences up 20 per cent

* Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassment and related offences up 7 per cent

* Sexual offences rose by 2 per cent over the same period

* Fraud, deception & related offences were down 41 per cent

The number of fraud and related offences dropped by 7,120 to 10,366 over the 12 month period to the end of March. This was due mostly to a fall in incidents of unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone, according to the CSO.

There were also decreases in recorded crime incidents involving dangerous or negligent acts (-5 per cent) and to a lesser extent controlled drugs offences (-1 per cent).

The CSO noted the crime figures for the year to March 2022 included data from 2021, which was “therefore likely to have been influenced by the public health restrictions that were imposed as a result of Covid 19″.

In relation to a comparison between the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, CSO statistician Jim Dalton said “the largest rates of increase were in theft and related offences, at 25 per cent or 3,479 cases.

“Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences increased by 21 per cent or 107 cases. However, there were decreases in nine of the 12 remaining crime categories with the largest rates of decrease in fraud, deception and hijacking offences, down 33 per cent or -1,268.”

On the “quarter one” yearly comparison, he added: “Homicide and related offences were down by 25 per cent or 4 cases. Public order and other social code offences were down by 10 per cent or -791 and Sexual offences down by 9 per cent or 79 cases”.