This article is from page 6 of the 2006-12-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A SENIOR Garda said yesterday that Clare Gardaí are to target a number of individuals based in Clare in cooperation with the Criminal Assets Bureau in the new year.
Acting Chief Superintendent John Kerin said that Gardaí are to focus their attention on half a dozen individuals or so who show wealth with no apparent means of income and this will be done in co-operation with CAB.
However, he said that there was an absence of gun-related crime in Clare in 2006, with no murders taking place, compared to two in 2005.
“Is that down to good policing or just good fortune? Thankfully, we don’t have the criminal elements that they have in Limerick.
“But is it only a matter of time before some of them start moving out here to escape Limerick and set up house here and certainly if they did, that would be a problem for us.”
Acting Chief Supt Kerin said that there were no armed robberies in Clare last year and while that was most unusual he hoped it would continue.
He said that the number of serious assaults this year was on a par with last year while minor assaults were down by 11 per cent.
To date this year, there have been 1,000 arrests for public order in Clare.
“Ennis is the main centre for public order offences, but I would still say it is not as bad it used to be.
“The Gardaí are a lot stricter, make arrests quicker, intervene earlier and we are putting more people on the streets. Even with that, there have been some nasty enough incidents during the year.
“I am reasonably happy and of course I would prefer if some of the assaults didn’t happen, but the lads throughout the county are on top of the public order situation”
He said that drink-driving arrests were up 72 per cent on last year – an increase of 197 to 469 to date this year.
“Last year, we had twelve fatalities on Clare’s roads and this year is it seven. That is a drop of 40 per cent but we are working off small figures. Seven is a relatively low figure and we want to keep it as low as possible,” he said.