Kilcullen needs more gardai
Kilcullen has had no increased Garda presence in five years, even though the official population has increased by 70 percent between 2001 and 2006.
In 2006 there were 104 instances of crime recorded in Kilcullen. Just 21 percent of them were solved.
There's interesting detail in the breakdown of those figures. Kilcullen is fortunate in that it doesn't experience many of the most serious offences. Just one assault was recorded in 2006, and it was successfully detected. Of three sexual offences, two were solved. One instance of fraud didn't get a result.
There were no homicides, no arsons. Of three reported robberies, two were sorted. Two drugs offences registered seems low, but both were marked 'detected'.
Fully 94 of the 104 crimes were thefts and burglaries. Ten of the 42 thefts were solved, but just 3 of the 50 burglaries were. That's just six percent, or half the average detection rate of the key towns in Kildare South.
It is clear from the burglary figures of Kilcullen, Monasterevin, Newbridge, Rathangan, Ballitore, Athy, Castledermot and Ballymore Eustace that greater garda numbers in any community inhibit actual crimes taking place.
Newbridge, for instance, has seven times the population of Kilcullen town. It has over 10 times the number of gardai, and only twice the number of burglaries. Though only 12.4 percent of these are detected, the Kildare South average, the actual incidence is two-thirds less than the rate in Kilcullen.
Jack Wall TD has recently highlighted the lack of manpower in Kildare South and called for increased numbers of gardai to be allocated at garda stations in the constituency. Describing the situation as 'frightening', he says the time has come to fight back. "The first step must involve the Minister recognising that Kildare South needs more gardai," he said.
Brian Byrne.
