Communities to band together
HAVING suffered armed robberies, break-ins and the theft of items, from copper to cars, members of a county Limerick community are coming together in a bid to put an end to a recent upsurge in crime.
David Thompson, closely linked to the Pallasgreen, Doon and Cappamore areas, told the Limerick Post that he had tired of letting criminals get away with it and has planned a meeting with representatives of the community.
“There is desperate crime going on in the areas of Pallasgreen, Doon and Cappamore,
“The doors on my own mushroom unit were smashed, there have been two armed robberies, telephone cables stolen, a house ransacked, impostor ESB representatives calling to houses and cars stolen all in the last few weeks.
“Unless we take matters into our own hands this will keep happening.
“The government are laughing at us up in Dublin; They don’t care about what’s happening in rural parts of the country like ours”, Mr. Thompson claimed.
Under government directive, Doon Garda Station was closed last month, along with a second station in Shanagolden.
Mr. Thompson said it was difficult to measure the effect of the closure against the recent increase in crime.
“When my mushroom unit was broken into, I rang Pallasgreen and Cappamore garda stations and there was no answer.
“When I got through to Bruff they did arrive out very promptly, but there is an awful lot of crime for the depleted resources to deal with”.
He wants to establish a community policing set-up so that residents could assist in the prevention of crime.
“There is a system somewhere in the midlands where locals can choose to sign up for a text alert so that when someone spots suspicious behaviour or a crime, everyone who is registered receives a text to say what has happened.
“Something like that could really work here”.
He is also hoping that Limerick County Council or Ballyhoura development will be able to fund CCTV cameras for the area so that criminals as a means of identifying and warning-off criminals.
Mr. Thompson has liaised with members of the council and the local garda force and has organised a meeting which, he hopes, will a forum for ideas on how to tackle crime in the areas.
The meeting is to take place at Pallasgreen Community Hall on Tuesday, May 15 at 8.30pm.
“I’m hoping that we can fill the hall and put our heads together to come up with a plan”.
