Heroin use driving rise in thefts in Galway

Heroin use is driving the increase in thefts in the city, Galway’s most senior Garda has said.

The end-of-year crime figures for the city show that burglaries are down, compared with last year, but all four categories of thefts are up.

Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curley linked the increase in thefts to an increase in heroin use.

“There’s always an upward trend in thefts when you have an increase in heroin use. People involved in the use of heroin will steal to feed their habit – that’s the evidence we have regarding increases in thefts,” he said at the latest Galway City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting.

There were 49 fewer burglaries in the city, down 19%, from 254 to 205 in the first 11 months of 2019 compared with the same period the previous year.

Thefts from vehicles were up by 23% from 133 incidents to 164 – this was attributed to an increase in criminals targeting catalytic converters, which have a lucrative re-sale value on the black market. Chief Supt Curley said Gardaí had made progress on investigations into these thefts and a number of cases were coming before the courts.

Theft from the person, up 39%, to 64 incidents, included a number of thefts of mobile phones from young people socialising in pubs and nightclubs, he said.

There were 576 thefts from shops between January and the end of November, up 41 or 8% compared with the same 11 months last year. Theft other was also up by 30%, which was an additional 71 incidents, bringing the total to 311.

Chief Superintendent Curley linked the increase in property crime to an increase in heroin use.

However, he assured the meeting that his drugs unit has been particularly successful in the past year – and the addition of a dogs’ unit based at the new Garda HQ in Renmore in 2020 would add further to Garda resources tackling the problem of illegal drugs.

Chief Supt Curley said Garda sniffer dogs would be on duty on the city’s streets, including Eyre Square, in the coming months, which would act as a deterrent to people dealing in and carrying illicit drugs.

The number of seizures of drugs for sale or supply during the past 11 months was down by 13 to 72. Simple possession was up 24% to 252 incidents.

The street value of the drugs sized, according to the latest crime stats, included: €104,000 of cocaine, €112,000 of ecstasy, €192,000 of cannabis, €87,000 of heroin and €22,000 of ‘other’ drugs that can include prescription.