CRIME TAKES A TUMBLE

The latest figures which indicate a further 10 per cent decline in the rate
of reported crime, suggest that we may have reached a turning-point. The
latest steep decline confirms a trend evident over the past three years.
There are good grounds for optimism that we do not have to consider an
annual increase in recorded levels of crime and violence as inevitable. This
is not to suggest that some kind of panacea has been found. By its nature,
crime is random and unpredictable. And a drop in gross figures may tend to
mask or divert attention from serious crimes. The Garda must be concerned
over the unsolved disappearances of so many women and the failure to make
arrests in a number of murder inquiries. But it seems that the declining
levels of reported crime are already having a beneficial effect on the
streets, in business, and in people's homes. The fear of crime which
appeared to grip parts of the major cities and isolated rural areas for much
of the past decade, has receded. For the moment, there appears to be less
concern about crime on the streets - and on the airwaves. The Minister for
Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and his predecessor, Mrs Nora Owen - who established
the Criminal Assets Bureau - are both entitled to some credit. The vigour
with which the Garda authorities approached Operation DF3chas, the
anti-drugs campaign, with some 17,000 arrests and over 7,000 people charged,
also deserves recognition.

The drugs crisis has not disappeared. Heroin still holds large swathes of
working-class Dublin in its grip. For many young people, the use of
so-called recreational drugs, like ecstasy, has now become an integral part
of a night out, as a report in today's editions of this newspaper makes
clear. But it is also the case that the Garda and the Criminal Assets Bureau
have largely succeeded in breaking up the major drugs gangs and tackling the
supposed 'godfathers' who were allowed to cock a snook at the criminal
justice system.

The lack of detailed research and information on crime patterns makes it
difficult to explain the fall-off in the statistics. Undoubtedly, the strong
growth in the economy has played a part by generating employment
opportunities. Stronger action by the gardai and the courts, the firm
response of individual communities and more favourable demographics - there
are fewer males aged 18-25 in the population - may have also contributed to
the fall-off in the crime statistics.

The continued buoyancy in the public finances now presents an opportunity to
make serious inroads into the causes of crime. Greater investment in
education and child-care facilities in underprivileged communities must now
be given the priority it deserves. The Government might also support plans -
like those mooted by Dublin Corporation this week - to redevelop some of the
worst enclaves of social deprivation in the State. In making the case for a
IEP100 million allocation, the city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, put it
starkly; "These areas have been stubbornly excluded from the boom. If we
can't do something about them now, what hope have we got when the inevitable
downturn comes around?"

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst