Hi °C | Lo °C The number of people injured in paramilitary assaults and shootings has more than doubled in the last 12 months after an upsurge in violence from dissident republicans.
There were 127 victims of attacks in Northern Ireland in the past 2009/2010 financial year while sectarian crime and incidents of terrorist shootings and bombings have also surged.
The figures are detailed in the annual crime statistics released by the PSNI yesterday.
They show almost 300 offences are committed every day — with violent crime, sex attacks and break-ins all on the increase.
But the PSNI insists that overall crime is actually falling — down 0.9% on last year and 23% lower than 2002/03 when incidents peaked.
The chairman of the Assembly’s Justice Committee, Lord Morrow, said the figures made for alarming reading.
“Whilst a decrease is reported, albeit of less than 1%, I am concerned the dissident terrorist threat is increasing, yet the arrests and detection have decreased,” he said.
According to statistics for the financial year which ended at the start of last month, 109,139 crimes were recorded, compared with 110,094 in 2008/09.
However, the number of violent crimes has risen while burglaries (up 110) and thefts (up 364) are also on the increase.
Lord Morrow said the rises are “extremely worrying”.
He said that most people still needed to be convinced that the increased threat is not impacting on the PSNI’s ability to tackle crime and deal with community concerns.
Police also revealed there were 1,264 sectarian crimes, up from 1,017 last year.
Duncan Morrow, head of the Community Relations Council, said more needed to be done to change people’s attitudes.
“These figures should make it clear that we need a policy and resources to ensure that sectarianism plays no further part in our public life and start to move our society away from sectarian attitudes and behaviour,” he said.
“We need a new normality of sharing rather than of fear. Supporting community relations work is crucial and encouraging young people in particular to leave sectarianism and enmity behind must be an important part of this.”
Chief Constable Matt Baggott said: “I am pleased to report that this year, despite the very difficult security environment in which we work, we have seen a decrease in the number of overall crimes recorded as well as an increase in the detection rate,” he said. “However, we will not be complacent and while the increased threat does impact upon the style and delivery of our service in some areas, we are determined that it will not prevent us working with communities to tackle crime and deal with the issues that communities want us to deal with.”
