Recorded Crime Detection 2018

The recorded crime rate is the ratio of the number of crimes reported to and recorded by An Garda Síochána relative to the population, expressed as a rate per 100,000 people. 

The detection rate is the proportion of recorded crimes which have been detected and is independent of the population.

The measurement and comparison of urban and rural crime rates has been identified as being of interest to many users. It would be a subjective process to classify every Garda sub-district as being either urban or rural, and one which different users would likely not agree upon. As such the CSO has decided to present figures for Dublin (i.e. Dublin Metropolitan Region) and Outside Dublin (the rest of the country) alongside one another, to allow users to compare such figures if they find such a comparison useful. 

The recorded crime rate for Group 01 (Homicide offences) in Ireland in 2018 was 1.6 incidents per 100,000 people. The rate for homicides in 2018 was higher outside Dublin (1.7) than in Dublin (1.3) and was highest in the Northern Region (3.1). Detection rates for homicides were higher outside Dublin. See Table 4.1.

The recorded crime rate for Group 02 (Sexual offences) in 2018 was 65.4 incidents per 100,000 people. The rate for sexual offences was highest in the Northern Region (74.3) and in the South Eastern Region (71.4), and lowest in the Western Region (51). Detection rates for sexual offences reported in 2018 were the same (11%) in Dublin and for the rest of the country, and were highest in the Eastern Region, at 15%.

The recorded crime rate for 2018 was considerably higher in Dublin than the rate outside Dublin in a number of crime groups, most notably in Group 06 (Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences) where the rate in Dublin (131 crimes per 100,000 people) was more than six times the rate outside Dublin (19 crimes per 100,000 people), and in Group 08 (Theft and related offences) where the Dublin rate (2606 crimes per 100,000 people) was almost three times the rate outside Dublin (902 crimes per 100,000 people). See Figure 4.1.

The recorded crime rate for Group 07 (Burglary and related offences) was just over twice as high in Dublin (560 per 100,000 people) than outside Dublin (268 per 100,000 people), while the rate for Group 12 (Damage to property and to the environment) was almost twice as high in Dublin (624 per 100,000 people) than outside Dublin (373 per 100,000 people). 

Detection rates for Group 02 (Sexual offences) incidents reported in 2018 were about the same in Dublin as outside Dublin (11%).

Detection rates for many offence types were lower in the Dublin Metropolitan Region than for the rest of the country, including for Group 03 (Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences) where a detection rate of 21% in Dublin compared with a rate of 38% outside Dublin, and for Group 06 (Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences) where a detection rate of 21% in Dublin compared with a rate of 37% outside Dublin.