Sign of the times: Alcohol and groceries the most commonly stolen items from Tipperary shops

Groceries and alcohol were the most commonly stolen items, the Tipperary Joint Policing Committee has heard.

According to the Tipperary Chief Superintendent Colm O’Sullivan, property crime was up across the division by 1% (664 incidents), and detections were up 20%.

Property crime includes all robbery, burglary and theft. Chief Superintendent O’Sullivan said the most “significant driver” of property crime was theft from shops.

This accounted for 46% of the figures shown, with the most common items stolen being groceries and alcohol.

COST OF LIVING

The Garda Commissioner’s monthly report to the Policing Authority for June 2023 showed that theft from shops per month in the 12 months from June 2022 to May 2023 is 23% higher compared to the same period in 2018/2019.

According to the monthly reports, retail theft increased significantly throughout 2022, with December’s report showing a 15-year high nationwide. It was widely reported in several media outlets that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris last year directly linked the rise in retail theft with the cost of living crisis.

BACK TO TIPPERARY

This month’s presentation revealed that incidents of property crime were up in every area except Thurles, which saw a 38% decrease and a total of 95 incidents in the first five months of the year.

Nenagh was up 19% (148 incidents), while Clonmel had an increase of 13% (246).

Cahir was up 2% (89 incidents), while Tipperary Town increased by 12% (86).

Other property stolen included property left outside overnight and people driving off without paying for fuel. Non-aggravated burglaries were down 26% in the year to date. Residential burglary was down 24%, and non-residential down was also down 24%.

Detections also decreased by 3%.

Nenagh, Thurles and Clonmel all saw reductions in non-aggravated burglaries.

While Cahir and Tipperary Town saw increases of 33% and 73%, respectively. However, those increases were small in terms of incidents, with five extra incidents reported for Cahir and 11 for Tipperary Town.

“It shows that the garda activity that is there is preventing in the first place, and hopefully we can maintain that as the year goes on,” said Chief Supt O’Sullivan.

FARMS

Tipperary TD Martin Browne asked to what extent is theft from farms a factor in the figures.

He also asked what measures gardaí have in place to address burglary and why it might be increasing in some areas.

The Chief Superintendent said that reflected in the statistics is predominantly theft from shops with farms included under “other thefts”.

Other thefts accounted for 117 incidents and included things as simple as a child's toy left out overnight, a phone left on a park bench or stolen farming equipment.

He said he doesn’t have reasons why a particular area might see more burglary, but there is an increase in this type of crime in winter.

Additionally, the Chief Superintendent said the “ability to move off the motorway network and back on again easily” may also contribute to burglaries.

But, the gardaí operates a programme every winter where analysts examine where burglaries occur most often. Those statistics are used to direct patrols to the locations where gardaí have the best chance of stopping the crime.