Students blamed for rise in public order offences

A rise in public order offences and serious assaults in the city has been attributed by a top Garda to the city’s unofficial Rag Week.

Overall crime in the city is down by over a third for the first three months of the year, despite a sharp increase in the number of heroin users.

Nearly all aspects of crime showed a decrease, with the exception of public order offences – up by 16 to 181 – and assaults causing harm; up by 2.

Those two jumps were attributed to the influx of young people in the city during the unofficial Rag Week.

There are now an estimated 500 heroin users in the city and county, a significant jump from the 250-300 addicts estimated last November.

Not all are daily users, according to Chief Supt Curley, with around 100 requiring a fix every day and resorting to crime to get it.

“An awful lot of burglaries in the last quarter last year were committed by heroin addicts,” he revealed.

He explained that the division had been allowed to sanction more overtime to deal with burglaries under the national Garda initiative known as Operation Thor.

“So, I could have more people out, so more prevention. If those people see more people out they won’t come out and commit the offences.”

There were 1,245 incidents of crime in the first quarter of 2016, a drop of 35%, Chief Superintendent Tom Curley told the Joint City Policing Committee meeting last week.

Burglaries were down 36% to 49, shop thefts were down by 22 to 124 and other thefts dropped by 17 to 49.

Minor assaults decreased by almost half to 29 during the period.

Drug figures for the city and county show an increase in the detection of drug dealers – 37 were caught by Gardai (up 9%), while there were 58 incidents of drugs possession.

The amount of drugs seizures also reflects a busy drugs unit- described by Chief Supt Curley as the most active in the country outside the capital.

Ecstasy worth €102,000 and Cannabis valued at €71,500 was nabbed in just three months.

Heroin with a street value of €11,300 was confiscated.

Councillor Niall McNelis asked whether the big drop in burglaries was due to the incarceration of two individuals.

Galway’s top Garda replied that when one person was sentenced, another could replace them.