Crime
Letterkenny is one of the worst towns in Ireland for public order offences. There were a total of 777 public order offences recorded in the town in 2003 with 1505 recorded in 2008. These statistics place Letterkenny as the sixth worst town in Ireland for public order offences, worse than the notoriously dangerous Dublin suburbs of Coolock and Clondalkin.
Recent years have seen serious crimes in Letterkenny being linked with feuds between gangs within certain areas of the town, mainly the Mountain Top and Oldtown and the surrounding areas. In one such incident a man was seriously injured when attacked with pitchforks and slash hooks in the Mountain Top area of the town. The Oldtown area has seen several feuds in recent years - dubbed the "Battle of the Oldtown" by the media. In one incident a man was stabbed and another taken to hospital. The gangs used ninja-type weapons of chains and swords. They only calmed upon the intervention of a local priest. Daggers, knives, chains and rapier-type swords were later confiscated by gardaí.
The Main Street has seen numerous assaults, stabbings, sexual assaults, drug raids and attacks on Gardaí in the past. Drug crime has become a problem in recent years, notably in the now demolished mart building.
In recent years local community organisations, ranging from the local authority to local businesses, have all set about addressing social issues.
The man with the worst criminal record in Irish and British judicial history is from Letterkenny. He has convictions for offences such as burglary, drugs, assault, forgery, as well as 297 road traffic convictions as of November 2012.
Read more about this topic: Letterkenny
Famous quotes containing the word crime:
“Knowing what [Christ] knew , knowing all about mankind—ah! who would have thought that the crime is not so much to make others die, but to die oneself—confronted day and night with his innocent crime, it became too difficult to go on. It was better to get it over with, to not defend himself, to die, in order not to be the only one to have survived, and to go elsewhere, where, perhaps, he would be supported.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“You punish crimes committed, with us the thought of crime is a sin; you fear the voice of witness, we the sole voice of conscience.”
—Marcus Minucius Felix (2nd or 3rd cen. A.D.)
“The disfranchisement of a single legal elector by fraud or intimidation is a crime too grave to be regarded lightly.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)