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CRIME in the county was down significantly in the first three quarters of this year compared with the same period in 2020.
The figures were revealed at the Kerry Joint Policing Committee Annual General Meeting this morning. The figures do not come as a great surprise considering COVID-19 restrictions in the second quarter would have seen a large decrease in criminal activity.
Property Crime (burglaries and thefts) was down 28%, Crimes Against The Person (assaults) dropped by 18%, Criminal Damage and Public Order by 24% and Drugs And Offensive Weapons decreased by 14%.
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Traffic collisions involving serious injury dropped by 56% while Intoxicated While Driving offences fell by 18%.
There were 123 burglaries up to October 2020 compared to 193 in the same period last year. Theft of vehicles fell from 27 last year to 22 this year (-19%) and theft from vehicles down from 95 to 58 (-39%).
Thefts from shops were down from 389 to 280 (-28%) and theft of other property decreased from 208 in 2019 to 154 so far this year (-26%)
Assaults causing harm fell from 106 last year to 86 in the same period this year (-19%) while minor assaults decreased from 369 to 285 (-23%).
Arson offences fell by a third from 15 to 10, while criminal damage incidents dropped by just 1%, from 275 in Q1-3 2019 to 273 in the same period this year.
Public order offences fell from 535 to 379 (-29%) while drunkeness incidents were down 30% (455 to 320).
Possession of drugs for sale of supply offence was one of the only categories to see an increase, from 63 in Jan-Sept 2019 to 75 in the same period this year (+19%), but possession of drugs for personal use offences saw a decrease from 440 to 351 (-20%). Possession of offensive weapon offences dropped from 49 to 35 (-29%).
Due to the lockdowns!