Preventing Crime & Creating Safer Communities
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Crime Prevention Information & News

Creating Safer Communities in Europe: a crime prevention sourcebook

IRELAND

Crime Prevention in the Republic of Ireland is primarily the responsibility of the Garda Siochana - the national police force. The Garda has a Community Relations Section with a specific brief to develop policy and crime prevention programmes. Many of the programmes developed to date involve a partnership between the police, voluntary organisations and the private sector.

The Ministry of Justice administers the Garda Siochana's Budget and makes provision in it for crime prevention. In recent years, successive Ministers have been sympathetic to crime prevention programmes.

The Private Sector

The private sector sponsor specific aspects of crime prevention programmes. For example, a private security company sponsors an annual Neighbourhood Watch Achievement Award and an insurance company funds a manual for members of Neighbourhood Watch Committees. Some retailers and insurance companies fund initiatives specific to their line of business.

There is no legislation regulating private security agencies, but firms must have a direct telephone line to the police. Recently there have been moves away from direct lines to the police and towards monitoring centres that will be privately owned and operated.

A government sponsored agency the National Standards Authority, has set standards for burglar alarms and alarm monitoring centres and has a role in certifying alarm installation and monitoring companies.

Special Councils

Special councils at local and regional level run Neighbourhood Watch and similar schemes. Individual schemes are self-governing; each police division has a Steering Committee of five to seven volunteer area co-ordinators and there is a Dublin Neighbourhood Watch Representative Committee.

The Police

The Community Relations Section of the Garda Siochana is responsible for crime prevention programmes both inside the force, for example, police lectures, a weekly television programme, school liaison, and outside in conjunction with the voluntary sector, for example Neighbourhood Watch.

The Community Relations Section of the Garda Siochana is divided into three sections:

1: Community Relations Office. This section oversees the Neighbourhood Watch Programme, Victim Support in liaises with other statutory and voluntary agencies over such matters as domestic violence and child abuse.

Neighbourhood Watch

The Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, initiated in 1985, covers one in five households in the country - 184,000 households out of a total of 999,000. Most of the 872 schemes are in the Dublin area and range in size from 20 to 1,000 households.

The Ministry of Justice claims that Neighbourhood Watch has been very successful and has initiated Pharmacy Watch to encourage co-operation amongst chemist shops to prevent fake prescriptions for prescribed drugs and robbery. In rural areas Community Alert has been established for elderly people living alone.

2: National Juvenile Office. This section deals with juvenile criminality prevention as well as supervising young people diverted from formal prosecution in the criminal justice system. The section has a schools programme for fifth class primary school children.

3: Crime Prevention Unit. This section researches, compiles and distributes crime prevention information to the public and laiases with the security industry on technology and standards. Members of the section provide training on crime prevention an security surveys for other agencies.

Community Driven Estate Regeneration - Mayfield, Cork

Residents of a high crime residential area owned by the local authority campaigned for improvements. As a result the local authority agreed to refurbish the estate and then let the tenants manage it themselves. In order for this to happen the University of Cork arranged a special training course for the residents and workers who were to be involved. There were sessions on redevelopment, design and management and those successfully completing the course received a Certificate. The estate has been extensively refurbished in line with the tenants¯ wishes and has been renamed 'Ard Bhaile'. A locally elected board of tenant representatives mange the estate and they are also involved in enhancements such as a children¯s play area and a community centre. Since the regeneration of the area, crime and anti-social behaviour has been considerably reduced and the usual social controls, including good liaison with the Gardai (which had been eroded previously as the estate slid into a 'no go' area), have been re-established.

Contact:

Gerry O'Farrell, Community Relations Section, An Garda Siochana, Block 1, Harcourt Square, Dublin 2. Tel (00353) 1 475 5555 Fax (00353) 1 475 2129.