INCIDENTS of drink driving in Limerick dropped during the last three months of 2018 according to the latest recorded crime statistics released by the Central Statistics office.
The latest figures show that a number of crime categories in the Limerick Garda Division saw a sharp rise in the last three months of 2018.
The number of overall drug seizures rose by almost 40 per cent to 188 from 135 in the previous quarter.
The majority of offences (138) related to seizures associated with personal drug use.
46 incidents were linked to the sale or supply of controlled drugs while there were no reported incidents of importation or the cultivation of drugs during the last quarter of 2018.
While incidents of drink driving dropped from 90 to 61 in Q4, endangering traffic offences rose to 15 from 5 in the same period.
Murder threats were up to 23 from the 20 threats recorded in July, August and September.
Sex offences, including rape and sexual assaults, were up from 28 to 42.
Burglary offences for the last quarter rose to 225 from 209 and overall theft offences rose to 857 from 792 in Q3.
Fraudulent incidents rose to 74 from 59 in the Limerick Garda division while weapons and explosive incidents rose to 49 from 26.
The Garda initiative targeting the sale or possession of illegal fireworks in the run up to Halloween was also reflected in the 23 offences recorded, an increase of 22 on the previous three months.
The statistics also revealed that damage to property and to the environment rose from 308 to 342 and there were 12 liquor licensing offences, an increase from the five recorded incidents in the previous three months.
The statistics published under reservation by the CSO means that there are data quality issues in the underlying sources used to compile these statistics, but early indications show that anti drink driving measures undertaken by the
Commenting on the latest Recorded Crime statistics, Sam Scriven, statistician said: “The publication of the latest Recorded Crime statistics provides the best available measure of crime reported in Ireland while informing users of concerns regarding the quality of the underlying data.
On a national scale, “the statistics show increases in the reporting of fraud and sexual offences. The numbers of burglaries and theft incidents both fell although there was a rise in the numbers of reported robberies.”
