Mixed bag as Dundalk crime rates revealed

At the March meeting of Dundalk’s Joint Policing Committee, Superintendent Charlie Armstrong presented crime statistics, from the beginning of the year to the first week of March revealing notable trends. While burglary and theft from shops saw slight increases, theft from vehicles and robbery from establishments decreased. Some drug offences rose, with possession for own use down but sale/supply up. Road traffic offences included 15 cases of driving while intoxicated and 2 serious injury collisions.

Superintendent Charlie Armstrong presented the figures to the March meeting of the Dundalk JPC (Joint Policing Committee) alongside the numbers for the same period last year and for the same period in 2020.

The figures showed that:

Burglaries rose from 34 to 37, while Thefts from Shops also rose from 81 in 2023 to 88 in the same period this year.

The numbers for 2020 showed Burglaries standing at 30 and Thefts from Shops at 77.

Thefts from Vehicles dropped from 22 to 9 while Robbery from Establishments dropped from 2 to 0.

In the same period in 2020, Thefts from Vehicles stood at 12 while Robbery from Establishments was at 1.

Robberies from Persons also saw an increase from 0 to 1. The 2020 figure was 1.

Theft of other Property rose from 16 in 2023 to 25 in 2024, a decrease on the figure of 44 for 2020.

Public order offences dropped slightly from 49 to 46, while the 2020 figure was 38.

Drunkenness Offences saw an increase, standing at 46 so far this year compared with 49 this time last year, and 36 in 2020.

Incidents of Criminal Damage saw a significant decrease dropping to 61 from 86 in the same period last year; this compares with 49 incidents in 2020.

There were 8 Arson Offences so far this year compared with 3 last year and 7 in 2020.

Meanwhile, there were 15 cases of Unauthorised taking of a Vehicle  so far this year, a decrease when compared with 15 last year and 6 in 2020.

Sexual Offences decreased slightly standing at 5 compared to 8 last year and 10 in 2020.

There was one theft from a person so far this year compared with 0 this time last year

There was 1 recorded Theft from  a Person in the same period in 2020.

Minor Assaults decreased slightly from 20 to 17, however, Assaults Causing Harm increased significantly from 13 to 21.

The same figures stood at 24 and 11 respectively in 2020.

Drugs offences also increased with Sale/Supply Offences jumping from 7 to 9, however, Possession for Own Use statistics fell slightly from 25 to 24.

Additionally, Superintendent Armstrong revealed that there were also 42 section 23 searches (under the misuse of drugs act) and 58 searches under warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

When it comes to road traffic offences, gardai recorded 15 cases of Driving While Intoxicated and 2 collisions resulting in serious injury.

This compared with 13 and 4 incidents of each record in 2023