This article is from page 16 of the 2012-08-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
RURAL communities in Clare are playing their part in preventing crime in their midst, but can’t be expected to do the work of the Garda Siochána who are being forced out of the countryside because of government cutbacks.
That’s the verdict that has been delivered by community leaders in Labasheeda this week as fears grow that garda services that were already cut back following the retirement of local garda, Michael Ryan, two years ago are to set to be scaled down even further.
“There is nothing more important in a rural community than a Garda Station,” community activist Mike Cassidy told The Clare People .
“We play our part in crime prevention and we take our role seriously, but we need the powers to play their part by having a presence on the ground. A garda is a vital part of the community.
“The idea of presence prevents things from happening – the fact that a person is there or the community knows that there’s someone there who can respond quickly,” he added.
Concerns about a further diminution of Garda services in the village have escalated this week on the back of the Crime and Victimisation Survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office.
In Labasheeda, only five offences came to light in 2011 – they were one threat/harassment, two burglary related offences, one drug offence and one case of damage to property.
“In a community like ours, the population has diminished over the years, but we have people here who live a good distance from the next house or the next farm. We’re on the edge of a peninsula and in place like this, I won’t say they’re in danger, but if someone was looking to do something it might be a prime place to do it if there was no garda presence,” said Mr Cassidy.
“We have a lot of older people in the community and I think the security of knowing that somebody is there – even if it’s only for a few hours or a few days – the presence is reasuring, and is prevention for anything that might happen.
“The analogy is with all the speed cameras. The beauty of that is people know that they’re there and it forces them to have the cameras on their mind and makes sure they obey the law.
“The physical presence prevents things from happening, but the prevention doesn’t get into the statistics, but is as real as the actual events themselves. It’s two parts of the process. Everything from Neighbourhood Watch to neighbours being more aware of anything unusual in the community, but we also need that garda presence,” he added.