One after-hours drink fuelled violent crime a week in Limavady

BY NIALL DEENEY

There were 53 after-hours incidents recorded over the past year of ‘violence against the person with injury’ which police believe were motivated by alcohol in Limavady’s town centre – a figure which represents only those incidents the PSNI know about.

Police recorded 61 incidents of ‘violence against the person with injury’, 41 ‘violence against the person without injury’, 17 criminal damage offences, 50 anti-social behaviour offences, 36 under-age drinking incidents and a further 38 crimes listed as ‘other public order’.

This was all in the space of one year, from 12.30 – 3.30am in a range of popular locations for night-life in Limavady’s town centre.

The Sentinel obtained the figures on the number of violence against the person, public order, criminal damage and underage drinking incidents under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.

Police were deployed to Limavady’s town centre as part of ‘night-life’ patrolling patterns over one hundred times in the last year. There, they dealt with 53 alcohol-fuelled violent crimes and a range of other crimes motivated by drink.

It should be noted that the figures quoted above represent only the incidents recorded by police, with numerous other incidents likely going unreported to or undetected by the PSNI.

A police spokesperson said the figures were taken from a ‘live crime database’ and may be subject to change. They showed that in the past year police recorded 61 incidents of ‘violence against the person with injury’ between 12.30 and 3.30am, a whopping 53 of which ‘had a motivation of alcohol.’

There were 41 offences or incidents of ‘violence against the person without injury’, 34 of which were fuelled by alcohol.

17 criminal damage offences were recorded by the PSNI in Limavady between 12.30am and 3.30am, more than half of which also had a motivation of alcohol.

There were 50 anti-social behaviour incidents after-hours, nine of which were drink related. Under ‘other public order incidents reported to police’ a figure of 38 was given by the PSNI, 17 of which had a motivation of alcohol.

‘Other’ public order incidents includes: “crime classifications ‘assault without injury’ and ‘assault without injury on a constable’.”

There were also 36 incidents of underage drinking recorded in the town centre areas of Limavady for which the Sentinel sought figures, between 12.30am and 3.30am over the past year.

The streets where the offences occurred were: Main Street, Irish Green Street, Catherine Street, Linenhall Street, Protestant Street and the Ballykelly Road.

Regarding the number of times police were deployed to the area, a police spokesperson added: “I have been advised that Police were deployed to the areas specified above 106 times as part of a regular ‘nightlife’ patrolling pattern to prevent public disorder and enforce licensing laws.

“Regular police patrols are designed to provide reassurance to members of the public who reside in

/near to /visit the town centre and prevent the type of disturbances listed above.”