Recorded Crime Q1 2023

There were 69,340 recorded crime incidents of Theft & Related offences in the year to Q1 2023 which is an increase of 36% or 18,444 incidents from the same period in 2022. Theft from shops which contributed to nearly half of this increase was up by 37% over the year. See Figure 2.1 and Tables 2.1 and 4.1.

Incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences however were down by 41% or 7,120 to 10,366 over the same period. This was due mostly to a fall in in incidents of unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone. See Figure 2.1 and Tables 2.1 and 4.1.

Most other categories of recorded crime incidents increased in the year to Q1 2023 with the largest rates of increase being in Homicide & Related offences (+28% or +15) and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (+20% or +356). Sexual offences increased by 2% to 3,660 incidents over the same period. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

In contrast, there were decreases in recorded crime incidents of Dangerous or Negligent Acts (-5% or -401) and Controlled Drugs offences (-1% or -155). Kidnapping & Related offences fell by 2% or 3 incidents, but this crime category was much smaller in volume. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

It should be noted that the crime figures for the year to Q1 2022 in Table 2.1 include 2021 data and are therefore likely to have been influenced by the public health restrictions that were imposed as a result of COVID-19.

In September 2020 the CSO introduced two new tables (Tables 2.2 and 5.1) in the Recorded Crime quarterly publication. They illustrated the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on Recorded Crime Statistics by comparing data for the most recent quarter with the same quarter one year earlier. These tables continue to provide a useful quarterly comparison and data is now included for Q1 2023.

Theft crime up and Fraud crime down in Q1 2023 compared with Q1 2022

When one compares the number of crime incidents by offence category between Q1 2022 and Q1 2023 some similar trends emerge with year to date comparisons in Table 2.1 above.

The largest rates of increase were in Theft & Related offences (+25% or 3,479) and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (+21% or +107). However, there were decreases in nine of the twelve remaining crime categories with the largest rates of decrease in Fraud, Deception & Hijacking offences (-33% or -1,268), Homicide & Related offences (-25% or -4), Public Order & Other Social Code offences (-10% or -791) and Sexual offences (-9% or -79). See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.

Burglary crime in the year to Q1 2023 was just over half of what it was prior to the pandemic

Table 2.3 provides further breakdown by offence type of the total number of recorded crime incidents for the year to Q1 2023 compared with earlier years. Data for 2020 and 2021 are likely to have been impacted by public health restrictions in place at the time due to COVID19.

The number of Burglary & Related offence crime incidents at 9,246 in the year to Q1 2023 was just over half (55%) of the 16,741 incidents recorded in the year to Q1 2019. This compares with the other categories of crime which were either just below or above pre-pandemic levels (2019). See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.3.

The number of incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences in the year to Q1 2023 at 10,366 was one and half times more than the 6,902 incidents in the year to Q1 2019. However, the number of recorded crimes for this category rose steadily in the same periods in 2020 and 2021 before reaching a high of 17,486 in the year to Q1 2022. See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.3.

Recorded crime incidents relating to Sexual offences and Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences in the year to Q1 2023 were 11% and 13% respectively above pre-pandemic levels. Other crime categories such as Theft & Related offences, Weapons & Explosive offences and Damage to Property & to the Environment were just slightly above 2019 levels. See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.3.