Cork Garda urges people to ‘be vigilant' but 'enjoy Christmas in the city’

GARDAÍ in Cork said they were not expecting an increase in crime this festive season as comparable data has shown that thefts reduce in the lead up to Christmas.

While members of An Garda Síochána are reminding the public and retailers to stay vigilant of scamming, falsified bank notes, and petty theft, Anglesea St Garda Station crime prevention officer Sergeant Michael O’Connell told The Echo that incidents of crime go “way down” during the Christmas period.

“From the three weeks leading up to Christmas last year, we noticed there was a reduction in thefts, and while we have our challenges, we had no other major serious events — there were a few minor assaults [but] we had no real assault causing harm or robbery from a person,” said Sgt O’Connell.

“We’ve noticed in the last few years that thefts tend to drop in the Christmas period because of the presence of the gardaí on the streets, people seeing those yellow jackets.

“Predominantly, it would be shop-lifting, cash scams, and counterfeit notes [during the day] and in the evening time you do have a level of anti-social behaviour. With intoxication, assaults can be common, there’s always a clear correlation between intoxication and assaults.

“The peak times for assaults are weekend nights, and research shows us that you are more likely to be assaulted if you are after consuming alcohol.

“It all goes back to people out celebrating and having fun, and sometimes people drink too much and it just gets out of control.”

Sgt O’Connell reflected on the hidden crimes that tend to spike due to an increased number of people at home and the reduced opening hours for amenities and stores.

“As members of An Garda Síochána, we do see the other side of Christmas as well, and as a part of that, traditionally, there would be a rise in domestic [violence].

“With Christmas, there can be a lot of drink around the house and [that] can lead to issues within a home.

“During the year, people are out working or socialising, and aren’t in the house as much, but at Christmas there’s no places open, so, in particular, Christmas Day can be a funny time for people who can normally get out.

“It can be a sad time for people [but] the gardaí are always around, and our priority is to keep people safe.

“We try to deter any type of crime that we can, but, unfortunately, a lot of the time, domestic violence is hidden.”

Sgt O’Connell reiterated that there is a range of services available to those who may need it during the winter period, and he said that to maintain a low level of disruption across the city, gardaí have implemented a number of measures to deter people from committing crimes both during the day and into the night-time economy scene.

PLAN

“We have extra resources in for Christmas, so a plan was put in place in early August and we’ve had extra members on the beat since mid-November.

“We’ll bring as many [gardaí] as we can out on the street to reassure the public.

“We have people working both day and night and there should be a stronger presence out there to encourage people to come into the city and enjoy Christmas in Cork.

“Seven days a week, we have extra beats on. It’s simple, you could have the most modern policing and have all the plans, but having the simple thing of a garda just walking around, it just works.

“It has a huge impact, it’s amazing really, and I’m hearing it back from retailers that they have noticed it. You can’t quantify what it prevents, but if something does happen, response times will be quicker.

“It’s a lovely time of year to be on the beat because everyone’s in good form, they’re out shopping or socialising. We’re lucky that we live in a city that people take pride in, it looks amazing with all the lights and I think businesses are looking forward to a busy time too — people are in a good place.

“The city is open for business, it’s safe, there’s a great atmosphere, and there is the extra patrols — we have two policing plans in place, one for the day time and one for the night time economy too.”

Sgt O’Connell said that he wanted to remind people to be aware of their surroundings despite reduced levels of crime, as “a lot of crime is opportunity”.

He touched on the issue of pickpocketing, as well as leaving cars unlocked with Christmas shopping inside or other valuable personal belongings.

“I would say that 80% to 90% of car thefts are cars being left open and, look, people are hectic, they have kids in the back and they’re busy, they’ll lock the house but forget to lock the car, so that’s one thing we really want to push out — if you do have to bring things back to the car, leave it out of sight.

“We do have pickpockets — the cheapest phone is €1,000 these days, and you wouldn’t just leave €1,000 on the counter, so we just want people to be vigilant.

“There’s a feelgood factor at Christmas. That being said, you can never preempt what can happen, if incidents happen we are fully prepared to deal with them.

“It’s all about being prepared for the inevitable but from experience, Christmas is always a happy and good time to be around and all we can do is ask people to be vigilant, keep an eye on themselves and their friends, and to keep their personal belongings on them.

“I think that Cork is safe the majority of time.

“Every city across Europe has its challenges, but if you can look after the basics it can prevent an awful lot of crime, and that’s not just me saying that, we can see it.”