Big increase in number of garda drug searches
By Aideen O'Flaherty
THERE has been a marked increase in instances of burglary, and the number of searches that gardai have carried out under the Drugs Act, according to figures recently released from the garda stations in Ronanstown and Clondalkin.
Figures for Clondalkin Garda Station, which were released at a recent meeting of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC), were compiled over the first three months of this year, spanning January 1 to March 31, and were compared to figures from the same time period last year.
Clondalking Garda Station has seen an increase in drug searches
Incidents of burglary increased by 46 per cent, jumping to 71 incidents compared to 38 last year, while there was a recorded rise in public order incidents, up by 44 per cent compared to last year.
Vehicle theft increased by 26 per cent, with gardai commenting that many of these incidents occurred overnight where cars were stolen from driveways, while theft from motor vehicles was up by 14 per cent.
There were 17 incidents of assault causing harm recorded by Clondalkin Garda Station in the first three months of this year, compared to 15 last year, and gardai stated that “most of these incidents occurred in the course of domestic and personal disputes.
“Five of the incidents had intoxicants as a contributory factor.”
There was a marked increase in incidents of possession of drugs for sale or supply, with 20 incidents this year compared to nine last year, and 512 searches were carried out under the Drugs Act, compared to 233 last year.
Decreases were recorded in a number of categories, including criminal damage, which is down by 31 per cent, theft from shop is down by 11 per cent, while there were only three incidents of bicycle theft, compared to eight over the same time period last year.
Figures for Ronanstown Garda Station were also released at the JPC, spanning January 1 to April 15 this year, showing a 23 per cent increase in incidents of burglary, a 33 per cent increase in criminal damage occurrences, a 72 per cent increase in bicycle theft and a 24 per cent increase in shop theft.
There were 71 incidents of theft from motor vehicles, compared to 34 last year, there was a slight increase in domestic disputes, where there were 28 this year compared to 27 last year, and 1,189 searches were carried out under the Drugs Act, whereas 941 were carried out last year.
Decreases were recorded in the categories of possession of drugs for sale or supply, which is down by 25 per cent, robbery from person, which has seen a 41 per cent decrease, and public order incidents, which are down by 19 per cent.
