Crime down due to emigration

THE economic downturn and consequent emigration have resulted in a dramatic drop in certain types of
crimes over the past six years, Clare’s most senior garda has claimed.
According to crime statistics outlined at a recent meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, reported
incidents of damage to property and the environment more than halved between 2008 and 2014, going from 934
down to 395 last year.
Public order and other social code offences also dropped significantly over the same period, going from
1,456 reported in 2008 to 765 over the course of 2014.
“These are often late at night, drink-fuelled, stupid acts of criminal damage. There is no doubt that CCTV
in towns like Kilrush and Ennis have also impacted that, but we have to accept that the downturn in the
economy and the subsequent emigration have had a positive impact on these figures, one of the only things
it has had a positive impact on really,” Garda Chief Superintendent John Kerin stated.
Comparing the two years, 2014 saw drops in almost every type of crime reported except the number of
homicides, sexual offences, kidnapping and related offences and robbery, extortion and hijacking offences
and controlled drug offences.
Threats to murder, attempted murder, assaults, harassments and related offences fell from 494 reported
crimes in 2008 to 296 last year. Theft-related offences dropped from 1,323 to 943 in the same period,
while burglary and related offences decreased by 176 to 351 last year.
Almost half of all burglaries and thefts in Clare over the first four months of 2015 occurred in Ennis or
Shannon, the latest crime figures show and Chief Superintendent Kerin is eager to stress that rural
burglaries, while they do happen, are quite low. The figures show that from January to April, there were
137 burglaries in the county and 224 reported thefts. Sixty of the burglaries took place in the Ennis area
and 15 in Shannon. In Kilkee and Sixmilebridge so far this year, there were nine reported burglaries and
eight each in Ennistymon and Killaloe. In Kilrush there were four reported burglaries in the same period.
There were also a total of 106 thefts from cars and 118 other thefts from January to April.
Chief Superintendent Kerin noted that there had been a spate of burglaries to holiday homes and these
accounted for some of the crimes but added that he expects the number of burglaries to decrease as the
perpetrators in many of the cases had been caught, convicted and jailed.
“I was very concerned there for two months in relation to the number of thefts from cars and burglaries
but there have been three or four criminal gangs and individuals who were involved in that, who are now in
jail and I know that for the next couple of months, those figures will drop,” he said.
“Communities can empower themselves with text alert, community alert and neighbourhood watch schemes. We
will co-operate with people in establishing them but by working with us on schemes such as that, they can
safeguard their own communities,” Chief Superintendent Kerin stated.
“Country people often have the perception that crime is gone mad and every house is being broken into but
when they look over a 12-month period or for a four-month period, they can see that maybe there were only
three or four burglaries across quite a big area. We want to reassure elderly people, in particular, that
things are not as bad as the perception,” he concluded.
Nicola Corless