Crime down but burglaries still a problem for cops

Overall crime in the Limavady borough has fallen, but the area’s top cop says one issue continuing to challenge the PSNI is urban burglaries.

New police figures reveal there were 1,318 recorded crimes for the 12 months up to November 2011 which fell to 1289 up until the end of November this year. The drop is heartening, says Area Commander Sam Donaldson, but a spike in reported burglaries from 67 last year, compared to 99 this year, is worrying.

“There’s no point me saying everything is hunky dory; we’ve got a problem,” he said, speaking candidly in an interview with the ‘Journal’.

Revealing police are targeting burglars, he says they need the public’s help.

“If you go back about a year ago in Limavady a lot of what was happening was the work of travelling criminals,” he said, “and there was a lot of rural crime. We had a lot of success around that and, this year, theft is down by 20 per cent; from 259 down to 211 this year. Now that’s still 211 too many, but it shows you they’ve come down by 18.5 per cent. Unfortunately, we’re talking about 100 burglaries and that’s a horrendous number, up 47 per cent.”

Chief Inspector Donaldson admits burglaries, and in particular in and around Limavady town centre is a problem.

“It’s not travelling criminals and at this time very little of it is rural. It’s urban focussed, and in and around Irish Green Street, Ballyquin Road and Edenmore Road, but not limited to. I am sorry to say 50 per cent of the burglaries are people leaving their properties insecure and the vast majority involves gadgets, jewellery and cash.”

Chief Insp. says it’s frightening how many times people admit to leaving a door unlocked or window open when they leave their property.

“I don’t want people to live in fear, but be alerts to the fact there are people out there who will exploit any opportunity,” he said, “so, please lock your doors; don’t be leaving windows open, or car keys and things like that lying about. If you do, you may as well put up a sign that says ‘Criminals stop here’!”

The Area Commander says while police have enjoyed success, with one male locally charged with 15 burglaries in and around the town, “I want to charge people with 15 burglaries every time they come in the door”.

“People need to come forward with information, and that is where we get the results so we really need people to be our eyes and ears,” he said. “If you see people and you think they are acting suspiciously don’t have a fear ‘I am disturbing the police’, we need that type of stuff.”

Chief Insp. Donaldson added: “People underestimate the effect of a burglary, and that is why it will always be a priority for us.”

* Violent Crime is down 12 per cent, from 466 crimes reported last hear compared to 409 to the end of November this year - a drop of 57 crimes.

* Burglary: Last year there were 67 reported, compared to 99 this year. Police say 50% have been via insecure property. Chief Insp. Donaldson says: “Despite the increase this year, are still lower than any other year since 2000,” he said.

Theft: last year there were 259 while this year there were 211 up until the end of November.

“That’s a drop of 48 crimes or 19%,” says Mr. Donaldson.