Cork city is to see an increased garda presence from this week on, as 48 new gardaí began a new high visibility policing plan yesterday in the city centre.
The Cork Business Association has said the move should help reduce antisocial behaviour, thefts and violence.
Following the recent allocation of 36 probationer gardaí and transfers of additional gardaí, An Garda Síochána in the Cork City Division has launched a permanent ‘high visibility policing plan’ to increase the visible policing presence in Cork city centre, effective immediately.
The Cork City Division recently gained an additional 48 gardaí which will support the operation. This will lead to an increase in foot patrols in locations that were selected following feedback from communities and businesses in the city, as well as from garda crime location data.
Dave O’Brien, president of Cork Business Association (CBA), told : “We’re delighted with this. We’ve had extra gardaí on the street in the run-up to Christmas for a lot of the past few years, but they tend to go away again after – this is permanent.
“It’s a massive increase in visible gardaí, and the fact that they’ve looked at the areas and streets which need these services, and will be assigning gardaí to those particular areas, is very welcome.”
New Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly told the Oireachtas justice committee this month that the high-visibility initiative had been hugely successful in Dublin.
He said it has resulted in an 18% increase in detections of antisocial behaviour, 67% of drunkenness and 3% of drugs for sale or supply, while theft from a person was down 28%, robbery from an establishment down 9%, begging down 57%, and assaults causing harm down 17%.
Mr O’Brien said the CBA anticipates these crimes will also decrease in Cork city, saying: “We’ve stressed to gardaí over the years that there just wasn’t a visible presence. With this amount of gardaí, we fully expect these kind of issues to reduce accordingly.”
He said It will hopefully lead to a fall in retail thefts and improve the perception of safety in the city, likely leading to increased footfall, boosting businesses.
“There was a perception in Cork city before that people weren’t feeling safe, which meant people were apprehensive. This visibility will encourage more people to come into town.
“We see it during Christmas ever year and now it will be an all-year-round thing — businesses are delighted.
“The CBA has been campaigning for this for years now.
“We’re in close contact with the gardaí, so we’re really pleased this has come to fruition, we want to say well done to the new commissioner for making it happen and to the local gardaí as well.”
In total, 11 high-visibility posts/beats across the city have been selected, operating between 8am and 4am. Gardaí will be at each of these posts at all times during the operating hours. A total of 23 gardaí will be assigned to this operation every day, comprising 11 gardaí during daytime hours and 12 gardaí during the night.
The high-visibility policing presence in the city centre has an increased focus on policing public order offences, antisocial behaviour, drug dealing, aggressive begging, and shoplifting, with a pro-arrest policy for recidivist offenders.
Foot patrols will be supported by the Cork City Garda Roads Policing Unit, the Garda Public Order Unit, and both detective and plainclothes gardaí.
Southern region Assistant Garda Commissioner Eileen Foster said the foot patrols “increase garda visibility and offer public reassurance that public realms and amenities in Cork city centre are, and continue to be, safe places to live, visit, socialise, conduct business and enjoy.”
Cork City Division Chief Superintendent Thomas Myers added: “This is an acknowledgement that Cork city needed additional resources and we look forward to high-visibility patrols, particularly in the build-up to Christmas.”
