Police chief reports burglaries are down

Area Commander Anthony McNally disclosed the figures at last Thursday’s meeting of the Craigavon District Policing Partnership.

His report showed that between April and September, there were 250 reported burglaries.

This compares with 178 for the same period in 2010.

“Whilst this is a pleasing result, we are very much focused on ensuring that we continue to deliver in this area,” said Chief Inspector McNally.

“We continue to strive to build confidence and community support so we can continue to apprehend offenders.”

Chief Inspector McNally pointed out that the number of burglaries tend to increase over the autumn and winter months and urged home owners to take precautions.

The figures in the DPP six month report also show that the number of people charged for supplying controlled drugs increased by 45%.

Chief Inspector McNally described this as an “excellent success”.

The PSNI in Lurgan achieved their target of ensuring that neighbourhood officers spend at least 80% of their time on duty in the community.

“We are very much committed to policing with the community,” said Chief Inspector McNally.

However, the report also revealed an increase in anti-social behaviour and non-domestic violence.

The number of people killed or seriously injured on the road also increased from 15 to 19.

Chief Inspector McNally blamed “careless driving” for many of the accidents.

Independent DPP member Brendan Curran said the report was “good overall”.

Mr Curran also said there needs to be a better definition of what anti-social behaviour means.

“There’s a massive decrease of anti-social behaviour on the ground, and that’s not adequately reflected in these figures.

“It doesn’t give a good indication of what the problems actually are,” he added.

He also said it would be useful to publish information showing the roads in the Borough where accidents are most common.

It was also reported that there were eight more serious sexual crimes committed between April and September than there were in the same period of last year.

Detection rates dropped from 40% to 17%.

However, vehicle theft decreased by more than 40% and the detection rate for drug offences was 67%.