An Garda Siochana have urged members of the public to download their new app that speeds up the process of reporting the theft of property.
The app is part of gardai's winter phase of Operation Thor, which is designed to prevent potential burglars from exploiting the reduced hours of daylight. Officers say that burglaries can soar by 20 per cent this time of year and is most likely to occur during the hours of 5pm to 9pm on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday during winter.
The winter phase of Operation Thor begins tomorrow, October 1 and will run until the end of March. Gardai say that since it's implementation in 2015, burglaries have declined. To date this year, there have been 6,100 residential burglaries reported but during the same period in 2019 there were 10,297.
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The An Garda Siochana Property App launched last week and allows the public to index and record their personal property, for example, jewellery, electronic equipment, bicycles, laptops, farm machinery etc. In a situation where the user has their property stolen, the app has the facility to easily report the theft to An Garda Siochana.
Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary said that gardai want to reassure the public that they are determined to detect crime in advance. "Residential burglary has a traumatic and often lasting effect on victims," he said.
"We are especially aware of the need to protect the most vulnerable and older persons who may be fearful of their home being burgled. I want to reassure people that Gardaí nationwide are as determined as ever to target all of the activities of the criminals involved to ensure that we detect crime in advance."
Gardai advised some simple steps which can help protect your home.
- Turn on some lights, LED bulbs are more energy efficient than traditional bulbs;
- Use timer switches/ motion detectors;
- Lock all doors and windows;
- Use an alarm;
- Store keys away from windows;
- Don’t keep large amounts of cash or jewellery in the house.
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