Crime Levels.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 April 2006

Tuesday, 4 April 2006

Ceisteanna (413)

Dinny McGinley

Ceist:

441 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of crimes recorded and detected across all headings in Donegal Garda division during 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. [13258/06]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

I have been informed by the Garda authorities that the following table outlines the total number of headline offences, by group, recorded and detected in the Garda division of Donegal between 2000 and 2005, inclusive. The introduction of the PULSE computer system by the Garda in 1999 has led to more complete and comprehensive recording of the crimes which are reported. Therefore, the statistics provided for 1997 are not comparable to the statistics provided for 2000 and subsequent years and the figures provided for 2000 and 2001 are incomplete due to the phased implementation of the PULSE system. The first full year captured by the system is 2002, which is a more accurate base year to use. Any interpretation of the crime figures should consider the increase in population over the last ten years. In 1995, with a population of almost 3.6 million people, there were 29 crimes per 1,000 people. In 2005, with a population of over 4.1 million people, there were 24.6 crimes per 1,000 people. Therefore, there has been a reduction of 4.4 crimes per 1,000 people. During the rainbow coalition Government, when there was a population of 600,000 less than at present, there were 102,484 headline crimes in 1995 and 100,785 headline crimes in 1996. It should also be noted that the headline offence of homicide includes not only murder and manslaughter but also the other homicide offences of infanticide, abortion, attempted murder and threat to murder. Over the six-year period shown in the table, two murders were recorded, one of which was detected, and no manslaughters were recorded.

Headline Offences Recorded and Detected for the Garda Division of Donegal for the Years 2000 to 2005

	2005*	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det	Rec	Det
Homicide	1	0	2	1	1	0	2	1	2	1	1	1
Assault	213	141	184	121	217	146	253	187	161	127	71	56
Sexual Offences	141	90	134	60	120	62	145	93	47	26	44	35
Arson	48	7	39	13	44	5	51	12	41	7	20	4
Drugs	28	27	53	52	68	67	61	61	51	51	38	38
Theft	1,066	248	1,068	238	1,110	267	1,122	264	640	196	485	159
Burglary	427	82	517	102	565	97	486	128	318	78	347	99
Robbery	12	4	10	2	17	5	19	4	12	5	15	8
Fraud	144	52	88	29	161	92	194	110	94	50	50	35
Other	64	38	61	35	50	33	56	26	56	40	18	17
Total	2,144	689	2,156	653	2,353	774	2,389	886	1,422	581	1,089	452

* Figures provided are provisional, operational and liable to change.