Gardaí have denied that burglaries in Mayo increased by 69 per cent from June 2007 to June 2008 as claimed by Eircom PhoneWatch last week.
In fact burglaries in the county increased only by five per cent during that rolling period according to local gardaí, a figure which is in stark contrast to the claims made by Eircom.
Eircom PhoneWatch’s survey was carried out by the OSG Group, the country’s leading loss adjuster, but local gardaí say their findings are inaccurate.
A Garda spokesperson told the Mayo Advertiser that so far this year, from January to September 30, incidents of burglary were actually down by 20 per cent in Mayo, compared to the same period last year.
The spokesperson also expressed concern that Eircom’s claims of a massive increase in that sort of crime would raise fears with the public. He said they quoted statistics in their report which the gardaí totally refute and added that they were never consulted on the issue by the OSG Group.
