Overall crime in county was down last year

Galway Bay fm newsroom:

Overall crime is down in the county.

That’s according to the latest statistics from gardaí which show a decrease of burglaries and public order offences across the county.

The garda report shows that burglaries were down by 17 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year.

Similarly theft from vehicles was down by 16 per cent.

Public order offences and minor assaults were also down by 5 per cent respectively last year.

The figures were presented at a meeting of the County Joint Policing Committee this week.

While there was a downward trend across the board in terms of crime in the county last year, one area which saw an increase was assaults causing harm.

In 2017 there were 68 recorded assaults causing harm but this jumped to 80 last year, an increase of almost a fifth.

Chief Superintendent of Galway Garda Division Tom Curley says while these types of assaults increased last year, there is not hotspot for this type of crime and it happens across the board.