Press Statement

Preasráiteas

17 June 2021

Go to release: Recorded Crime Q1 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 June 2021) published the latest Recorded Crime statistics, which cover the period to the end of March 2021.

Commenting on the release, Sam Scriven, Statistician, said: “The statistics released today compare levels of recorded crime in the year to March 2021 with the previous 12-month period and highlight the impact of COVID-19 restrictions one year into the pandemic.

 The total number of recorded crimes in the year to March 2021 has fallen sharply in the categories of burglary (-45.4%), theft (-30.7%) and robbery (-26.4%) when compared with a year earlier. There were decreases in the numbers of murders (-22.5%), and assaults and related offences (-13.9%). Criminal damage fell by 11.4% and public order offences fell by 11.2%.

 The number of criminal incidents classified as fraud increased in the year to March 2021 by more than 1,100 (+13.7%) compared to the previous year. The number of incidents in categories of controlled drug offences (+9.5%) and weapons & explosives offences (+7.6%) also rose.

 A total of 10,459 offences were recorded on PULSE for breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Q1 2021. This is a marked increase on 1,090 such offences recorded during 2020 (304 in Q2 2020, 262 in Q3 2020, 524 in Q4 2020), and reflects the introduction of a new system of Fixed Payment Notices (i.e. fines) in respect of breaches of COVID-19 regulations in December 2020. The figure includes unpaid fines and other offences, but does not include fines which were paid. The offences are not included in the statistical tables in this publication due to difficulties aligning them with the existing statistical classification.”

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