A meeting of the Joint Policing Committee of Tipperary County Council last month revealed that across the county of Tipperary, reports of incidents of fraud and economic crime are up 180% from January 2021 to the beginning of December 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, while reports of domestic abuse incidents are up 10% throughout the district. Incidents of online fraud are up almost 500% for the whole of Tipperary.
While incidents of property theft dropped in almost all parts of the county, the exception was the Cahir Local Electoral Area (LEA), where it rose by 24%. There were 154 reported incidents of theft, compared to 124 for the same period last year in the Cahir LEA – countywide, the figure was 1,094.
However, for every other category of crime within Tipperary, the figures have dropped in the Cahir LEA.
Assaults are down 25%, with 40 reported incidents. This is in stark contrst to Thurles LEA, where they are up 40% to 74 reports for the year to date, at the time of the meeting in December 2021.
‘Crimes against the person’, including murder, harassment or neglect, totalled 55 for the Cahir LEA, down from 74 last year. However, in Thurles LEA, the figure increased significantly, with 108 incidents reported for the period of January to December 2021. There were 73 in the same period in 2020.
Throughout the county, drugs and weapons searches conducted by gardaí have increased 11%. From 1st January to 1st December 2021, there were 5 counts of possession of firearms countywide, and 547 counts of possession of drugs for personal use.
ROAD OFFENCES
On the road, almost 2,500 Garda checkpoints were conducted, almost 1,000 more than in 2020. They captured 817 incidents of using a mobile phone while driving, and over 4,000 incidents of speeding – both increases on last year.
However, Gardaí saw a 20% reduction in seatbelt wearing offences. They also saw a reduction in both drink-driving and drug-driving offences. Up until December 1st, 264 drink-drivers were caught, and 76 drug-driving offenders were detected.
