The volume of public-order offending, drunkenness and drug-related crime detected in central Dublin increased significantly after extra Garda resources were put in place six months ago.
The detection of drunkenness rose by almost 70 per cent while some drugs offences were up by close to one-third.
The Garda officer in charge of policing in the Dublin region has said a perception the city centre is unsafe took hold because social media was amplifying “isolated incidents”. This was largely down to video footage going viral and generating fear.
However, Assistant Commissioner Cliona Richardson also said the force’s special “high-visibility policing initiative”, in place in the city centre since March, has proven “very effective”. It would offer people even greater “reassurance” in the coming months as Garda numbers increase.
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The intention of the high-visibility operation was “to make people feel safer coming into the city” and to specifically detect crimes that often dictate people’s “perception of safety”.
“But Dublin city is a capital city, so we can’t be naive and say these sort of offences will not take place,” Ms Richardson said, speaking at a pop-up Garda station on Mayor Street Lower, in the docklands area of the north inner city.
The clinics take place in the north and south docklands on alternate Thursdays. It is done in a bid to enhance engagement between gardaí and people living, working and socialising in those areas.
They form part of the wider high-visibility policing plan. A significant number of newly-attested gardaí have been posted to Dublin since the spring, strengthening the plan.
The high-visibility operation, run from Store Street and Pearse Street Garda stations, has now been reviewed after six months. That review appears to show increases in detections of offences that are rarely reported to gardaí and are usually only uncovered by proactive street-based police work.
For example, detections for public-order crimes have increased by 18 per cent over the last six months, while the number of drug-possession cases went up by 30 per cent. Possession of drugs with intent to supply has increased by 3 per cent, while drunkenness was up by 67 per cent.
At the same time, the increased Garda presence in Dublin city centre appears to have deterred some people from engaging in other types of crime.
Theft from the person is down by 28 per cent, with about four such offences occurring every day. Other crime types that have reduced include robbery from the person, down 30 per cent, and robbery of an establishment, down 9 per cent. Begging has reduced by 57 per cent, minor assaults are down 4 per cent and assaults causing harm are down 17 per cent.
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Overall, since the operation was put in place in March, the number of “interventions” in crimes and other incidents by gardaí has increased by 15 per cent, or 3,750 arrests. The number of charges or summonses arising from the enhanced Garda activity was up by 20 per cent, or more than 40 per day.
However, as Garda patrols have increased in north and south central Dublin and more arrests have been made, assaults on peace officers have also increased. This includes gardaí and other frontline or emergency workers.
The offence of assaulting or obstructing a peace officer was up by 29 per cent, while obstructing a drug-related policing action was up by 38 per cent. Thefts from shops increased by 6 per cent, with Garda headquarters claiming the trend reflects business owners now being strongly encouraged to report thefts.
Ms Richardson said Garda numbers are now growing generally and as this continues, more gardaí will be available for street policing. This would allow An Garda Síochána to extend the high-visibility policing initiative to other parts of Dublin and to urban centres across the State.
While the pop-up Garda clinics were just one part of the operation under way in central Dublin, these were “taking gardaí out of stations” and putting them into the community. This, in turn, “gives confidence” to people who are visiting areas just outside the busiest parts of the city centre.
