Reports of assaults have increased by more than 10 per cent across Galway since 2019, according to new Garda figures, while drug detections have soared.
Garda figures presented to Galway County Council’s Joint Policing Committee this week show assaults causing harm and minor assaults recorded across Galway increased from 378 incidents in 2019, to 457 last year.
Combined “drug related” crime figures, from simple possession to supply, soared 85 per cent to 454 entries on the Garda pulse system for 2023. Two thirds of this figure are reports of simple possession. Figures from 2019 to 2023 should also be considered in the context of Covid restrictions which caused fluctuations in reporting and detections.
Property crimes, such as burglaries, are down almost 8 per cent to 278 incidents last year, while reports of anti-social behaviour and street crime declined almost 9 per cent to 301.
Galway’s Garda top brass relaunched the city’s Neighbourhood Watch programme this week, at a well-attended meeting in Salthill. Around 100 citizens and community leaders heard western division boss, Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche, Galway city’s top cop, Supt Damien Flanagan, and other senior gardaí explain how communities can start or relaunch a Neighbourhood Watch.
Mayor Eddie Hoare, city policing committee chair Níall McNelis, city councillors and senior council staff attended the event in the Salthill Hotel. Officials and gardaí all agreed it was the largest Neighbourhood Watch event in memory, and noted Garda observers from Dublin were present.
Chief Supt Roche said he was “awestruck” by the turn-out, as Galway’s 12 community policing officers introduced themselves to attendees encouraged to sit at tables divided into city west, central and eastern areas.
“Thirty years ago when I joined up, people wanted to see and know their local guard in a car or on a bike. Decades and millions of euros later in technology, that hasn’t changed, and that’s what we’re trying to bring back,” he said.
Sergeant Dermot Hardiman explained how individuals can download information from the Crime Prevention section of the Garda website, and contact their local garda station for a community officer to advise on surveys and simple paperwork necessary to establish a Neighbourhood Watch.
“Some schemes set-up are reactive, when incidents have happened in a location. However we recommend being proactive and use this as an opportunity to get to know your neighbours,” he said.
Garda officers highlighted to the Advertiser the main community policing concerns in different areas of the city: Knocknacarra, anti-social behaviour; Salthill, juvenile nuisance; Rahoon, littering; Westside, drugs and theft; city centre, theft; Newcastle, student issues from public order to student victims of crime; Headford Road area, illegal dumping; Ballybane, loose animals, littering and drugs; Mervue, illegal parking and noise; Renmore, illegal parking, speeding. Domestic violence is also a concern across several neighbourhoods.
