By Dara Bradley

The scourge of burglaries in Galway continues to rise – new Garda statistics show there was a 9% increase in the numbers of burglaries on homes across the city in the first eight months of this year.
Senior Galway Gardaí have expressed alarm that householders’ “security is lax” and burglars are gaining entry to homes through unlocked windows and doors, and particularly through unlocked patios.

Galway Garda Division Chief Superintendant Dónal Ó Cualáin told a meeting of the Galway City Joint Policing Committee yesterday (Monday) that there were 396 incidents of burglary between January and August of 2010.

This represents an increaseof 9% on the same period last year, and means there is, on average, 12 burglaries carried out in the city every week.

Chief Supt Ó Cualáin said that laptops are one of the main targets of burglars and warned that September and October were particularly bad months for laptop burglaries because students who are returning to the city with the expensive equipment are being targeted.

He said that jewellery is also being targeted and burglaries involving jewellery is stolen by gangs who are “staking out” homes and gathering information on people’s movements and the valuable contents of their homes.

Chief Supt Ó Cualáin said the increase in burglaries was not confined to any particular area or estate but rather they were “random burglaries” carried out throughout the city.

“It is difficult to believe but the burglars in some instances can just walk through the front door which is not locked. Security is very lax ... people don’t check that their patio doors are locked or if their windows are open. It is a concern,” he said.

Chief Supt Ó Cualáin said there was no evidence to suggest that the opening of the M6 motorway has led to a spike in burglaries in Galway although he conceded that the gangs “are very mobile”.

He said Galway Gardaí have been very successful in the last fortnight at solving burglaries that had taken place in the last few months and he said that while the statistics show there was a 9% increase in burglaries, “the trend is downward and hopefully that will continue for the remainder of the year”.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.