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Crime Detection Rates

Crime Detection Rates

Recorded crime detection rates in 2024 were equal to or above 2023 rates for most crime offence groups

Online ISSN: 2711-9971
CSO statistical release, , 11am

September 2025 update on Fraud Crime Statistics

The CSO in December 2024 and March 2025 provided updates to users on the impact on Fraud crime statistics of the backlog in the recording of potential fraud related crime incidents reported to An Garda Síochána by Financial Institutions under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011 on the PULSE system.

The CSO is advised by An Garda Síochána that it continues to work on the backlog of Section 19 referrals from Financial Institutions and is making progress on this issue. In addition, work is ongoing by An Garda Síochána to extend an existing reporting portal to handle Section 19 referrals. This system will improve the consistency and efficiency of the reporting process for Financial Institutions.

In view of this ongoing work, the CSO will continue to publish statistics on recorded incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences based on those directly reported to An Garda Síochána by members of the public and recorded on the Garda PULSE system. Therefore, users should continue to exercise caution in the interpretation of published statistics on recorded crime incidents of this offence type as they are below the overall reported level and should be considered incomplete.

The crime incident detection rate is the number of detected incidents divided by the number of recorded incidents.

This chapter presents crime detection rates as follows:

  1. ‘Initial’ crime detection rates for 2023 and 2024 which are those measured eight months after the end of each year. These shall be referred to as ‘Initial.'
  2. ‘Updated’ crime detection rates for 2023 are those which are measured 20 months after the end of 2023. This shall be referred to as ‘Updated.'

Crime detection rates are presented in this format to allow time for crime investigations by AGS to progress before settling.

This chapter compares initial crime detection rates for 2023 and 2024 and charts how the detection rates for 2023 have changed a year on from the initial measure.

Crime detection rates for 2024 were equal to or above 2023 levels for most of the crime offence groups

The data shows that: 

  • The initial crime detection rate in 2024 was equal or above that in 2023 for nine of the fourteen crime offence groups. The largest increase was for Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime (70%, +7 percentage points). To a much lesser extent, the detection rate in 2024 for Controlled Drug offences was 2 percentage points higher at 81% than in 2023.
  • In contrast, the detection rate in 2024 was lower than in 2023 for Homicide & Related offences which, at 75%, was 7 percentage points lower than in 2023, Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences at 25% and Weapons & Explosives offences at 68%, were both 3 percentage points lower than in 2023.
  • For all other offence groups, the percentage point change in detection rates ranged between -1 and +1 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).
X-axis label20232024
Homicide offences (01)8275
Sexual offences (02)87
Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences (03)2825
Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (06)2324
Burglary & Related offences (07)2223
Theft & Related offences (08)3131
Controlled Drug offences (10)7981
Public Order & other Social Code offences (13)8283
Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime (15)6370
Table 2.1 Recorded crime incident detection rates1 and percentage point change for crime incidents reported in 2023 and 2024, classified by offence group
 Crime incident detection rate (%)Percentage point difference
ICCS Offence Group2023 Initial 22024 Initial 3
Homicide & Related offences (01)8275-7
Sexual offences (02)87-1
Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences (03)2825-3
Dangerous or Negligent Acts (04)84851
Kidnapping & Related offences (05)33330
Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (06)23241
Burglary & Related offences (07)22231
Theft & Related offences (08)31310
Fraud, Deception & Related offences (09)..9..
Controlled Drug offences (10)79812
Weapons & Explosives offences (11)7168-3
Damage to Property & to the Environment offences (12)20200
Public Order & Other Social Code offences (13)82831
Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime (15)63707
1 Crime incident detection rate is the number of detected incidents divided by the number of recorded incidents. A detected incident means at least one suspected offender has been sanctioned.
2 Measure based on data extracted 8 months following end of reference year, as published in Recorded Crime Detection 2023.
3 Measure based on data extracted 8 months following end of reference year, data extracted 01 September 2025.
.. Recorded crime incident data for offence group ‘Fraud, Deception & Related offences (09)’ for 2024 are only for those recorded crime incidents that have been reported directly to the Gardaí by members of the public and recorded on PULSE. Recorded crime incidents of this offence group from Q3 2023 onwards have been revised to exclude those reported to the Gardaí by Financial Institutions under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011. This is due to the effect of the backlog in processing suspected fraud crime incidents reported to the Gardaí by Financial Institutions under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2011. Data for 2024 is therefore no longer comparable to previous years. Please see information note at the beginning of this chapter.

Detection rates for most crimes reported in 2023 increased over the year

Table 2.2 below compares the crime detection rates for offence groups in 2023 measured eight months (‘Initial’) after the end of 2023 with those measured 20 months after the end of 2023 (‘Updated’). The initial crime detection rates for 2024 are also included in the table.

The data shows that the detection rate for crime incidents reported in 2023 increased for 11 out of the 14 crime offence groups when measured again in September 2025. The most significant of these were:

  • Sexual offences where the detection rate was up by 8 percentage points to 16% by September 2025.
  • Controlled Drug offences where the detection rate was 87% in September 2025 up 8 percentage points from 12 months earlier.
  • Homicide & Related offences where the detection rate increased by 6 percentage points to 88% by September 2025.

Of the crime offence groups where the detection rate did not rise over the year, Dangerous or Negligent Acts (84%) remained the same while the detection rate for Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime fell from 63% to 62% (See Table 2.2).

Table 2.2 Recorded crime incident detection rates for crime incidents reported in 2023 and 2024, classified by offence group

More recent reporting periods in general tend to have lower detection rates for most crime

Not surprisingly, crime incident detection rates for most crime offence groups, tend to rise over time and so are higher for older reference periods, as more investigations are completed.

This pattern can be seen across a number of offence groups for crime incidents reported in 2023 and 2024.

Figure 2.2 and Table 2.3 below compare the measured detection rate for incidents reported on a quarterly basis in 2023 and 2024, based on data extracted on 01 September 2025.

In particular:

  • Homicide & Related offences – 89% detection rate for crimes reported in Q1 2023 compared with an 83% detection rate for crimes reported in Q1 2024.
  • Sexual offences – 19% detection rate for crimes reported in Q1 2023 compared with a 13% detection rate for crimes reported in Q1 2024.
  • Controlled Drug offences – 89% detection rate for crimes reported in Q1 2023 compared with 84% for those reported in Q1 2024.
  • Weapons & Explosives offences where the detection rate for crimes reported in Q1 2023 was 80% compared with 73% for Q1 2024.
  • Attempts/Threat to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences – 31% detection rate for Q1 2023 compared with 28% for Q1 2024 (See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.3).
Figure 2.2 Recorded crime incident detection rates by selected offence groups for crimes reported Q1 2023 - Q4 2024

Data extracted 01 September 2025.

Table 2.3 Recorded crime incident detection rates for crimes reported in 2023 and 2024, classified by offence group and quarter