MONAGHAN CRIME TRENDS DOWN, BUT GARDAI CONCERNED ABOUT SPATE OF OIL THEFTS

Recent months have seen a downward trend in incidences of robberies and assaults in the Monaghan area, Garda Superintendent Michael Clancy told Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Monaghan Town Joint Policing Committee.
But Superintendent Clancy expressed concern about a recent spate of fuel oil thefts in the locality, stating that the Gardai had put in place a detection and prevention strategy and had made two significant arrests in relation to the crimes.
The Superintendent told the meeting that since the beginning of the year there had been a reduction in the number of burglaries in Monaghan, which was not the case elsewhere around the country.
He said that this time last year the JPC had concerns over the number of assaults that were taking place, but this year so far the statistics showed a reduction for both assaults in public places and assaults in the home. The number of public order offences being dealt with by the Gardai had also dropped – although they continued to have “flashpoint” incidents, the overall trend was down.
Unfortunately, Superintendent Clancy continued, there had been a recent increase in the theft of fuel oil from homes – such crimes had started up again and this was an issue of concern to the Gardai.
He pointed out that the Gardai had put in place a detection and prevention strategy and had two significant arrests last week. The crime involved a small group of well-equipped criminals who were engaged in the theft of oil from homes.
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