CRIME FELL last year by 5 per cent but several serious offences increased, including murder, rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment and burglaries, according to the Central Statistics Office.
Gun crime and drug crime decreased, by 5 per cent and 6 per cent respectively, but robberies from banks, post offices and other institutions were up by 18 per cent.
Garda sources believe many drugs gangs have found the drugs market has contracted because demand is down due to the recession.
These groups are believed to be increasingly turning to armed robberies to make money.
Murder increased 6 per cent last year, drink-driving fell by 23 per cent, public order and other social code offences were down 8 per cent while damage to property was down 6 per cent.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said that while the incidence of many types of crime had fallen, he was concerned at the “noticeable” increase in burglaries – up 9 per cent – and robberies from institutions.
He said people could prevent burglaries by fixing good-quality locks to windows and doors and ensuring their homes were secure when they went out. He also urged people to be vigilant and report suspicious behaviour to gardaí.
Major investigations were progressing, he said, into last year’s high-profile so-called “tiger kidnappings”, in which the families of workers at banks and post offices were held hostage while the staff member secured money for the gang in return for the release of their relatives.
He also wanted to reassure victims of rape (up 10 per cent last year) that they would be treated with sensitivity and their attackers vigorously pursued.
He welcomed the fall in drug and gun crime, and said recent gangland killings were being met with a major anti-gangland operation in Dublin.
“Unfortunately we have had a very serious start to this year. We have made inroads into a number of those shootings and indeed we have one person before the courts in one high-profile case.”
He accepted that people with information on gangland crime may be too afraid to contact gardaí, but said the force could protect them through the witness protection programme.
Mr Murphy was speaking at a passing out ceremony for 258 newly qualified gardaí at the Garda Training College, Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said in a statement he was concerned that 55 cases of murder and manslaughter were recorded last year. “Many are gang-related, which underlines the necessity of the tough legislation enacted last year,” he said.
He said older people were particularly vulnerable in their homes to burglars and bogus callers. He had initiated a review relating to tougher sentencing for criminals convicted of attacks on the elderly.
Age Action said mandatory sentencing would reflect society’s revulsion of attacks on older people, but the Government should provide funding to the elderly to improve security at their homes.
Labour’s justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte TD said more gardaí were needed on the beat.
Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan TD said an increase of 33.5 per cent, to 351 cases, in robbery from the person in the last quarter of 2009 was due to “the absence of gardaí”.