This article is from page 12 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
THE number of people in the mid west who reported experiencing crime last year decreased from the figure in 2003, newly-published sta- tistics reveal.
Figures published by the Central Statistics Office last week show that 4.2 per cent of people in the mid west experienced crime last year, com- pared with 5.8 per cent in 2003.
Of those, 1.2 per cent of people liv- ing in the mid west were victims of theft where violence was used.
1.3 per cent were physically as-
saulted last year, down from 1.6 per cent three years earlier.
Almost two-thirds of people who were victims of theft involving vio- lence last year reported the matter to gardai (62.5 per cent).
This is a huge increase on the fig- ure of 48.8 per cent in 2003, but is a reduction on the figure of 71.4 per cent, in 1998.
The figures also show details of how safe people feel walking alone in their neighbourhoods, after dark. More than 70 per cent of residents in the mid-west, said they felt either safe or very safe. 24 per cent were
unsafe, while almost six per cent of people felt very unsafe.
The figures for last year are similar to those recorded in 2003.
92.8 per cent of those surveyed said they felt safe alone in their homes, after dark. This is a slight increase on the figure for 2003.
52.6 per cent of respondents said they felt crime was a very serious problem. 34.1 per cent said it was a serious problem, while 12.1 per cent said it was a fairly serious issue. Just 1.2 per cent of respondents in the re- gion said it was not a serious prob- aner