The number of fraud offences recorded in Clare in the first nine months of this year has more than doubled compared to 2019 and 2020 levels.
However, levels of crime as a whole across the county appear to be decreasing, as Clare FM’s Josh Prenderville reports.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show 261 offences of fraud and deception were recorded by the Clare Garda Division between January and September of this year.
That’s over twice the 121 similar offences documented in 2020 and the 123 recorded back in 2019.
Meanwhile, the number of drink driving offences recorded by the CSO here has more than halved this year.
While 161 such offences were documented in Clare back in 2019’s first nine months, that figure dropped to 84 for the same timeframe in 2020 and has reduced again to 63 so far this year.
Burglaries in this county have also dropped by around 40 percent from 2019 levels, with thefts falling by nearly 20 percent.
Drugs offences, having seen a jump here in 2020, have now dropped back to 15 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
Public order offences recorded by Clare Gardai have fallen by nearly a quarter on the same period in 2019, something senior personnel here have previously suggested is a consequence of less social interaction due to COVID-19 restrictions.
