This article is from page 28 of the 2007-12-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
THE end of an era in policing in north Clare will be marked this week when Lahinch Sergeant Michael Gallery retires from the force. The Ennisty- mon native has taken early retire-
ment to concentrate on farming.
Mr Gallery has been the sergeant in Lahinch for the past four-and-a-half years and has played a pivotal role in controlling night-time lawlessness in the seaside resort.
He moved to Lahinch in 2003,
having served in Kilrush, Limerick, Pearse Street in Dublin and Donegal, over the past three decades.
His job over the past few years has been focused on curbing public dis- order on the streets of Lahinch, in- vestigating tragedies at the Cliffs of
Moher and solving rural crime.
During his career he spent a year working in Bosnia and intends to re- visit there in the coming months.
A bone of contention in Lahinch 1s the lack of Garda resources available in the town. “It 1s under-resourced. There should be at least four person- nel here (up to last year there were just two, with a third deployed there in 2006). I know the authorities have to look at 24-hour stations and make sure they are covered, but Lahinch 1s by far the busiest sub-station in north Clare,’ he said.
He has seen several rows on the streets as hundreds of youngsters pour out from the nightclubs in the early hours. The issue hit crisis point three years ago when a full-blown riot broke out. As a result, gardai objected to exemptions for the local nightclubs and he believes this has helped matters.
“Things were out of control. We looked for resources and didn’t get them. We objected to the exemptions. Judge Mangan became aware there was a problem and cut back closing times and imposed heavy fines for public order offences. The situation has changed. In 2005 there were 95 arrests for public order and 30 as- saults were reported. Five of those were assaults on gardai. We now have four gardai working every Sat- urday night and while there are up to 100 public order arrests every year, the number of assaults has reduced. There were just four assaults this year, so it is effective,” he added.
As he prepares to sit back and enjoy life in retirement, he says one thing is crucial in police work — being seen on the beat. “I worked in Pearse Street for 10 years and rarely did I ever sit in the car,” he said.