Saturday, April 28, 2012

Burglars most likely to strike at Mass time

Criminals are responsible for a 40% increase in burglaries in Co Cork in the first quarter — many of them striking when householders are attending Mass.

Figures released by gardaí show there were 465 burglaries recorded in the three Cork Garda divisions for the first three months of the year, compared to 347 for the same period in 2011.

The most striking increase was in North and East Cork, where there was a 59% rise. Burglaries were up 31% in Cork City and 28% in West Cork.

Chief Superintendent Ger Dillane, who is in charge of North and East Cork, told a joint policing committee that analysis showed the peak time for burglaries was on Saturdays from 7pm-8pm, when people attended Mass. 

He said Fridays and Saturdays from 4pm to 8pm were also favourites for criminals.

He said dubious door-to-door salesmen offering so-called bargains were actually spying on people to see if they kept money in their homes and were selling on the information to gangs of burglars who would later target the household.

"You might think you’re getting a bargain, but in the long-term, you’re not."

He said that last January, Cobh and Midleton areas had suffered most.

Gardaí responded with increased patrols and checkpoints, but the burglars simply switched their attention to the Mallow area.

Many houses, he said, still didn’t have alarms and people were very lax when it came to protecting their vehicles and valuables they leave inside them. Thefts from cars in his region rose by 81% from 32 to 58.

He said "a couple of young fellas" had recently been questioned in relation to 21 thefts from cars in the Rathcormac area. "They told us they never had to break a window. All the cars were left open."

He also advised people not to leave cash, jewellery and other valuables in drawers in their master bedroom, because a survey conducted among prisoners in England showed that was the first place they looked after breaking into a house.

Chief Supt Mick Finn, who is in charge of policing Cork City, said despite repeated advice, elderly people were still keeping large sums of money at home.

He said one day recently a Dublin-based gang carried out 10 burglaries in a city suburb and took €30,000 from one house.

In contrast to the experience in north and east Cork, Superintendent Eddie MacEoin said people living in West Cork are "more likely to be burgled between 10am and 4pm on most days of the week."

He added that none of the houses burgled this year had alarms. "We have increased checkpoints in the region to catch these burglars."