“There will be no Garda with the kind of local knowledge which is vital in a community policing role.”
NEW garda rosters are going to leave rural areas prey to criminals who will take advantage of knowledge that garda stations are unmanned. And calls have been made to bring back experienced, retired gardai in a private capacity as members are pulled from rural stations to deal with crime in larger towns.
Cllr John Sheahan a member of the Joint Policing Committee has raised the issue of new garda rosters.
When contacted after this week’s meeting of the Committee he said it is his understanding that twin pressures of demand from larger towns for a garda presence to deal with anti-social behaviour and retirements under the Croke Park agreement, have resulted in the need for new arrangements.
“There has been a huge number of retirements and clamour in the larger towns to have a stronger garda presence at busy times like weekends, which is understandable,” he told the Limerick Post.
“But what will happen now is that there will be no Garda with the kind of local knowledge which is so important in a community policing role. ‘The local guard meets people on the street who trust him and give him information. The patrol car which comes in from the big town 15 miles away for a couple of hours and then goes away again can’t replace that”.
Referring to what he termed a “fear factor” in the absence of a locally stationed garda ,particularly among the elderly, he said:
“It certainly could give encouragement to opportunistic crime.”.
The councillor suggested a possible solution for falling garda numbers at the Joint Policing Committee.
“We have so many gardai who have retired with their full 30 years experience on the force and their local knowledge and that is such a waste. There is an embargo on recruitment at the moment but it must be possible to bring these former members of the force back in some kind of private capacity.
A garda spokesman confirmed there are “ongoing discussions” about policing arrangements but said that the Gardai will not discuss those arrangements or comment on them publicly.
