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BURGLARIES saw a big decrease in 2016 according to the latest figures released by gardaí, but the welcome news came with a note of caution as there has been a spate of crimes so far this year.
Chief Supt Tom Myers gave the crime statistics for 2016 at the meeting of the Joint Policing Committee meeting at Kerry County Council on Monday.
There was a 55% drop in burglaries, down to 175 from 387 in 2015. There were five aggravated burglaries, an increase of one on 2015.
Chief Supt Myers, however, noted the significant increase in burglaries in 2017 so far. He mentioned the burglaries in Killarney at the weekend, in the Killorglin area a few weeks ago and in the Listowel area.
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He said they have a number of intelligence-led operations ongoing in relation to burglaries and he hoped to give an update on this at the next JPC meeting. He said gangs from south Dublin and Cork city were coming down to Kerry and committing crimes.
With regard to thefts from vehicles, there were 103 last year compared to 143 in 2015 (down 28%) while there were 38 thefts/UT of a vehicle.
There were 454 thefts from shops compared to 518 in 2015 (-12%) and 227 thefts of other property, down 29% on 2015 figure of 319.
