This article is from page 23 of the 2013-03-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
A NEW Garda text alert system aimed at helping to reduce the incidents of crime is set to be rolled out in Clare over the next month.
Details of the system were outlined at a meeting in Ennis on Thursday night to discuss crime and cutbacks to Garda budgets.
Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, told the Fianna Fáil organised meeting that the system is in the final stages of development.
“We’re very close to it. Why it’s delayed so long is that we want to make sure it’s done properly and the messages going out are controlled. We’ve had incidents up the country where individuals have put out messages that this person or this car have been around the area and people have been attacked by neighbours because they thought they were up to no good in the area. But they are actually there on genuine business,” he said.
He added, “I’ve to look at how I can do it on an 18- or 19-hour basis from a central location in Clare. We’ve nearly completed that and I’m hoping to roll out that in the next four to five weeks.”
Chief Supt Kerin stressed the importance of establishing community alert and neighbourhood watch schemes. Citing an increase in thefts on farms and the incidence of daytime burglaries, Mr Kerin also said there is an onus on people to take common sense security measures to protect their property.
He said, “The amount of houses that are broken into through unlocked doors and windows in the evening time is unbelievable. The statistics are very, very high. When I joined the Guards and up to about 15 years ago, most of the burglaries were being done in the dead of night when we were all asleep. But the re- ality now is that most burglaries are being down between 2pm and 10 or 11 o’clock at night, when people are gone to shops or up to mass or wherever. Even if you’re leaving the house for 10 or 15 minutes, lock it, talk to your neighbours and ask them to keep an eye on your house.”
The meeting heard that levels of crime have fallen by 33 per cent in Clare over the past five years. Mr Kerin said there has been a 42 per cent reduction in the level of assaults in Clare in that same period.
He added, “Despite a popular perception that burglaries are up, they are actually down by 163 in Clare over the last five years (-31 per cent). Having said that there were 364 break-ins to houses last year which is on average of one a day.”
Mr Kerin said, “Thefts, all kinds of thefts, are down by 304 crimes in that period but there was still 1,119 thefts in Clare last year. That’s an average of between three or four per day.”