For information relating to law and order and the political situation in Northern
Ireland, the
reader may wish to consult the section on Security.
General issues of law and order are upheld by the police force in Northern Ireland,
the Royal
Ulster Constabulary. This force came into existence in 1922, and its membership
today stands
at 8,489 plus a further 4,967 full and part-time reserves, bringing this to
a grand total of 13,486.
In proportionate terms this is considerably higher than anywhere else in the
UK. It represents a
ratio of one police officer per 140 civilians, as opposed to 1:434 in England,
1:359 in Scotland
and 1:459 in Wales.
On the whole, the overall level of crime in Northern Ireland is significantly
lower than that in
England, Scotland or Wales, and in 1995, notifiable offences (per 100,000 population)
in
Northern Ireland were less than half of that recorded in England and Wales.
There were
however three categories in which Northern Ireland had a higher rate of offenders
than any
of the other areas. These categories are sexual offences, fraud and forgery
and 'other' offences.
Northern Ireland also has a high proportion of burglaries (although proportionately
fewer than
England and Wales) and in 1995, these accounted for almost three quarters of
all recorded
crime in Northern Ireland.
The number of drugs related offences in Northern Ireland has been increasing
steadily and
rapidly over the past number of years, with the number of arrests for drugs
charges having
more than tripled in the five years between 1990 and 1995. Having said this
however, these
figures are still dramatically lower than the figures for any other part of
the United Kingdom
or the Republic of Ireland.
In terms of offences cleared up, Northern Ireland has a higher percentage of
crimes solved
or cleared up than the rest of the UK. In 1995, the clear-up rate for crime
in Northern Ireland
was 36 per cent, while England and Wales had an average clear-up rate of only
26 per cent.
The numbers of young offenders in Northern Ireland has decreased dramatically
over the past
ten or so years. The overall figure for offences caused by juveniles in 1985
was 1,523 but by
1994, this figure had fallen to 879. The age group which represents the greatest
number of
overall offenders, is the 21-29 age bracket, and for every age bracket there
are consistently
more male offenders than female.
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