Cork garda chief moves to allay fears about any downgrading of community policing
Speaking at a meeting of the joint policing committee which took place at City Hall yesterday, Chief Supt Tom Myers said that “there are no plans at all to take community policing out of the city. Picture Denis Minihane.
The comments come amid fears that community policing could be impacted by recently implemented changes to garda rosters and following on from recent events in Dublin.
Speaking at a meeting of the joint policing committee which took place at City Hall yesterday, Chief Supt Tom Myers said that “there are no plans at all to take community policing out of the city.
“I would like to reassure everyone of that. This is not a downgrading of Cork city under any circumstances.”
He added: “We understand the significance of community policing and the role they play in youth diversion projects. One recent example of this was the recent Garda Youth Awards. There are no plans to downgrade community policing.”
Supt Myers was speaking in response to questions raised by Cork North East Worker’s Party councillor Ted Tynan.
Speaking at the JPC meeting Cllr Tynan said: “It looks like these gardaí are going to be taken out of housing estates and placed on the main streets of our cities. This in response to events in Dublin like the ones that involved attacks on tourists and I understand that fully.
"What gardaí need to do is put more funding and garda resources into the overall garda numbers and maintain our community policing unit.
"The Garda Youth diversion projects have been a massive success. They have a very positive effect. They see people’s self-esteem being lifted by activity but there is concern that community policing units may collapse.
"The absence of the visible presence of gardaí in other areas of the city will increase anti-social behaviour. If people responsible are contacted at a young age this can turn lives around.”
Independent councillor Thomas Moloney later echoed his sentiment, calling for the safeguarding of community policing in Cork city.
“I am delighted to hear the chief’s acknowledgement that it won’t be disbanded in Cork City,” he said of community policing.
“However, there have been reports from across the country that the units are being disbanded and going into the main units. That’s something we need to be very careful about.
"It’s something we should be protecting and it’s something we should be advocating against with the commissioner because everybody here has accepted the tremendous work they do on the ground.
"They also accept how supportive they are in preventing crime in the community as well as having their fingers on the pulse. If they are brought out of the community policing units and put into covering everyday units we are going to be seriously challenged in Cork.”
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