Crime rates down across the county

Overall crime rates in Cork city, Cork North and Cork West for 2020 are down compared to 2019, however major concerns still remain over road fatalities, sexual assault numbers and drug crimes.

At a Joint Policing Committee (JPC) held virtually this week, North Cork Chief Superintendent Tom Myers presented crime statistics recorded in the three divisions between January and October of this year.

The statistics were directly compared to those of the same period of last year.

In the city, property crime is down from 3,696 incidents in 2019 to 2,734 in 2020, a decrease of 962. Cork North dropped from 977 to 697, while Cork West dropped from 306 to 269.

Assaults causing harm were also down in the city, falling from 775 to 641, something Chief Supt Tom Myers said may be largely due to the city’s night-time economy being temporarily closed.

Cork North recorded 58 assaults causing harm, down 50 from last year, while Cork West recorded a small drop from 63 to 53.

The city saw an increase of six in cases of driving while intoxicated this year, a statistic Chief Supt Tom Myers said was “disappointing” considering preventative measures put in place by the gardaí.

He also stressed that intoxication did not apply solely to alcohol.

He said: “There was a total of 648 people arrested for drink and drug driving across the city and county. That’s where the disappointment is, with all the road safety campaigns and severe sanctions.

“That’s hard to believe in this day and age that somebody is going to get behind the wheel of a car and take a chance,” he added at the meeting on Monday.

Cork North saw no change with 253 incidents of driving while intoxicated recorded in both 2019 and 2020, while Cork West saw a noticeable drop from 227 to 173.

While traffic accidents in general are down in all three divisions, gardaí recorded 18 fatal accidents which resulted in 19 deaths.

Five of these were in the Cork city division. There was ten fatal road accidents in Cork North this year and four recorded in Cork West.

Cork North-Central TD Thomas Gould said the fatal road accident numbers were particularly worrying as 11 of them were vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists.

Deputy Gould said: “I have been consistently calling for an improved focus on road safety for vulnerable road users. Without footpaths, bicycle lanes and proper speed limits we cannot protect the most vulnerable on our roads.”

Rape of a male or a female is up from 32 to 40 in the city this year with unaggravated sexual assault down from 105 to 73. Rape and sexual assault were down in the other two divisions, bar Cork West which recorded 23 incidents of sexual assault, unchanged from last year’s figure.

Drug crimes were a major point of concern with large increases recorded across the board in cases of possession for sale and personal use.

According to gardaí, more than €3 million worth of drugs have been seized in Cork city and county since the beginning of the year.