Crime rate in Galway drops by 10 percent

Galway City Tribune – Assaults causing harm, burglaries, thefts, drink driving and public order offences all recorded decreases in the first three months of this year compared to the same quarter last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

A total of 1,736 offences were recorded in the first quarter of the year – that’s down 10% from the 1,936 recorded in the same period last year.

And while there was a year-on-year decrease in most offences, some recorded an increase, including rape and sexual assaults (up 11% to 39), fraud (up 22% to 84); assaults causing harm (up 4% to 138); criminal damage (up by one third to 184 cases) and shoplifting (up 3% to 187).

An analysis of the statistics by the Galway City Tribune shows that by far, the most common offences for Gardaí to deal with in the first three months of the year were disorderly conduct, handling of stolen property, shoplifting, criminal damage and assault.

But Gardaí also had to deal with very serious crime, including five murder threats (down from eight), 11 arson cases (up from eight) and one false imprisonment case (one was also recorded in the first quarter of last year).

There were also significant numbers of drugs cases – 32 for sale or supply (down 38% from 52); 92 for personal use (down 8% from 100) and two for cultivation or manufacture of drugs (down from three).
This is a preview only. For a full breakdown of the crime stats in Galway, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.