Crime strategy to target 200 most prolific burglars

An Garda Síochána has unveiled a new €5 million national strategy to target mobile gangs and prevent burglaries.

The plan involves a new fleet of high-powered BMW and Audi SUVs, high-visibility checkpoints, and increased patrols on motorways to deny criminals the use of the road network.

The multi-strand strategy, named Operation Thor, will focus in particular on six serious criminal gangs and 200 repeat offenders.

As well as the new high-powered vehicles, there will also be increased use of technology for covert surveillance, measures to disrupt the market in stolen goods, high visibility checkpoints and more policing on roads supported by automatic number plate recognition technology.

Operation Thor was launched by Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan on Monday at Garda Headquarters. She was flanked at the media conference by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, Deputy Commissioner John Twomey, and Gurchand Singh, the head of the Garda analysis service.

More than a dozen BMW X5 and Audi Q7 vehicles are understood to have been purchased and will be available to Garda armed support units throughout the country.

The addition of these vehicles to the fleet is intended to combat Dublin-based criminals who have used high-powered vehicles on the motorway network to target isolated rural homes and businesses.

Ms Fitzgerald also confirmed that a provision for the tagging of offenders would be included in the new burglary and bail legislation, which was recently published.

However, she said tagging offenders was not a panacea but would have a role in the system.

“It will be in the full Bill when it is published. It will make it easier for the prosecution to request tagging. It is an important measure,” she said.

The commissioner said that the new programme would be a follow-on from Operation Fiacla which had targeted crime and burglaries and had resulted in 5,000 people being charged.

She emphasised the multi-strand nature of the operation. In addition to specific operations in the field, the Garda would use crime trend analysis to identify burglary hot-spots and high-visibility patrols would then be put into operation in those areas.

The programme also provides for more information and advice being made available to communities, improved services for victims support, a national advertising campaign, and partnership arrangements with other State agencies and voluntary groups such as the IFA, Neighbourhood Watch, Muintir na Tíre and Crimestoppers.

“There is a fear of burglary and crime for people in rural and urban areas,” said Ms O’Sullivan. “The investment in the fleet means we can have high-visibility cars and jeeps on the motorways, deterring criminals,” she said.

“It will be making the roads safer for road users. We will be using patrols in a focused way, ensuring we have the capability to tackle the type of criminals that are causing the harm,” she said.

“I am very conscious of the fear that people have. Coming into darker winter months, that fear increases. We will have a visible presence out there.”

Ms O’Sullivan said the Garda would target the six criminal gangs and 200 repeat offenders in an aggressive way.

“Our determination is to put as many of them out of business as quickly as we can,” she said. However, she added: “As soon as they are put out of business they are replaced by somebody else.”

Mr Singh, head of the Garda’s analysis service, said the plan was very much based on its research. He pointed to the fact that after an initial burglary, the chances of the premises and nearby premises being retargeted increases in the following five weeks.

Ms Fitzgerald said she was acutely aware of the impact that crime had for individuals and families and that was one of the reasons she had brought to the Oireachtas the Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill 2015 which proposes to impose tougher sentences for repeat offenders as well as imposing more onerous bail conditions.

“I am very conscious of the heinous crime that burglary is. The Government’s response is focused on two key objectives; an investment by An Garda in vehicles and ICT, as well as the strengthening the law to get tougher on repeat and serial offenders. Thor is the operational aspect of the approach.”

“The fact the Commissioner is in a position to put Thor into practice is evidence of that increased investment,” she said.

Ms O’Sullivan acknowledged the overall personnel of the force had reduced by 2,000 in the past number of years but said 550 Garda recruits would graduate this year.

When asked if the closure of small Garda stations was connected with growing fears of burglaries in rural areas, the Commissioner said policing was not about bricks and mortar but was about engagement with the community.

She referred to gardaí being visible and engaging and interacting with the community.

Mr Singh said the figure that 75 per cent of burglaries were committed by 25 per cent of offenders was based on analysis conducted several years ago on the Pulse system which showed a consistent cohort of repeat offenders.

He said the findings tallied with the experience in other jurisdictions.

While there is a widespread perception there has been an increase in rural crime, the fear is not borne out by Central Statistics Office reports which show that the main increases have taken place in Dublin, with 10 rural divisions of 28 divisions showing an actual decrease in incidents since 2007.

Ms O’Sullivan said that statistics can sometimes lose the detail.

“What is important is the fear of crime. If people are vulnerable in their own homes, it’s something that we have to work hard on,” she said.

“Statistics can remove the impact that any single crime can have. This is reducing the fear of burglary (among communities) with a visible presence.”