Crime rates drop across Galway, says Garda chief

Crime – with the exception of breaches of barring orders and sexual assaults – has fallen in Galway in the past six months, according to the latest figures.

Burglary in rural areas has come down by 45% since the beginning of the year and speeding offences have been reduced by 52%.

Chief Superintendent Tom Curley told the Galway County Joint Policing Committee that crime in general was down 32% in the first eight months of the year.

He said one of the main areas he wanted to tackle was speed on public roads and he intended appointing a new Inspector with responsibility for traffic.

So far this year, 2,907 mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints have been carried out in the county (an increase of 3% on last year) and 10,446 breath tests had been performed, a decrease of 7%.

The number of criminal incidents reported this year to date, were 3,882. Of that figure, 168 were burglaries (a drop of 45%), 105 car thefts (down 34%), nine thefts from a person (down 44%), 138 from shops (down 4%) and 192 other types of thefts (down 42%).

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune