Detectives in County Galway are monitoring the activities of up to 40 people who are liable to commit burglaries.
Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curley said there were between 20 and 40 ‘top’ people within the Galway Garda Division who are under scrutiny as Gardaí continue to look at ways of reducing burglaries.
He said Gardaí were also working closely with the courts to secure curfews for people liable to commit burglaries.
Chief Supt Curley said the surveillance and curfews were among the measures Gardaí were using as they try to, “keep a handle on would-be offenders”.
In his Garda report to the Joint Policing Committee (JPC), Chief Supt Curley outlined how the number of burglaries in County Galway had fallen by 39% last year compared with the previous year.
There were some 267 burglaries recorded in the 12 months of 2016, 170 fewer than all of 2015 when a total of 437 burglaries were recorded.
Detection rates of burglaries in the Galway Division ranged from 19% to 23%, which he said was slightly better than the national average.
The reduction in burglaries helped to push down the overall crime rate in the county.
There were 6,559 crimes recorded in Galway County last year. That represented a 20% reduction in crime compared with 2015; down by 1,658 from 8,217 incidents.
There was a big fall-off in the number of thefts recorded last year, too, down by 234 compared with the previous year.
For more on this story, see the print edition of the Connacht Tribune.
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