DRINK driving offences have surged in Donegal Garda Division, according to latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Also up are assaults, harrassments and threats to murder.
There were 243 attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences in Donegal Garda Division up to the end of June this year, which is up from 169 offences in the same period in 2021.
Drink driving offences increased by 43 per cent, with 97 offences of drink driving having been recorded in Donegal Garda Division by the end of June this year, compared with 55 in the same period in 2021.
Drug driving offences have seen a decrease, with 36 offences recorded in Donegal Garda Division up to the end of June 2022, compared with 65 by end of June, 2021.
Rape and sexual assaults have seen a rise of 14 offences. Thirty nine were recorded in Donegal Garda Division in June 2022, compared with 25 in the same time frame in 2021.
Sexual offences have also seen a jump of 53 per cent. Forty three were recorded by the end of Quarter 2 this year, compared with 20 by the end of June, 2021.
Breach of court orders saw a slight rise, from 27 recorded at the end of June this year compared with 25 in the same time frame last year.
Thefts from shops has risen by 34 per cent. There were 52 offences recorded by the end of June 2022. This compares with 34 by end of June in 2021.
Arson offences have remained the same, with nine having been recorded by the end of the second quarter of this year and the same period last year.
While nationally, fraud offences have risen by almost half as criminals resort to online and phone scams, there has been a drop of almost half in the number of fraud offences recorded in Donegal Garda Division.
Fifty-four offences were recorded by end of June this year, down 48 from figures over the same period in 2021, when 102 offences were recorded.
Nationally, the number of fraud offences increased by 43 per cent from 11,325 to 16, 2020. CSO statistician Jim Dalton said the increase in fraud offences nationally was largely driven by unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone.
This week, gardaí in Donegal urged people to be vigilant in the wake of the emergence of ‘The Grandparent Scam’. The text scam sees people receive a random text message purporting to be from a family member stating that they require financial help or are in some sort of trouble which needs to be kept secret.
Kidnapping, theft and attempted assaults are also up substantially nationally in the 12 months between the end of June 2021 and the end of June this year.
The crime figures are published ‘under reservation’, meaning the CSO is not fully confident of the accuracy of the garda figures with an additional concern this quarter because of the inappropriate cancellation of 999 calls, which could result in some crimes reported to gardaí not recorded on the PULSE system.
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