Radical plan to tackle antisocial behaviour

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The biggest effort in the history of the city to tackle the scourge of anti-social behaviour has been launched involving the Gardaí, councillors and a range of community groups.

In the initiative being spearheaded by the city’s Joint Policing Committee (JPC), each electoral ward in the urban area will have a special committee tasked with initially identifying the root causes of the problem.

Cllr Niall McNelis (Lab), Chairman of the city’s JPC, told the Galway City Tribune that the core element of the strategy was to reach out to local communities and residents who were affected by anti-social behaviour (ASB).

He said that the strategy would be based on the ‘broken windows theory’ in relation to crime, where the initial emphasis would be in targeting minor crimes such as littering, public drinking, loud noise and small acts of vandalism.

“Each of the city wards [electoral areas] will now have a working group or sub-committee initially made up of local councillors, the Gardaí and community representatives, that will initially concentrate in identifying the specific problems in their own areas.

“The key message we want to get across is that if something is happening in their own area that is wrong, and is causing a nuisance, that this should be let happen as the norm. There will be someone there to listen to them and to act on that complaint,” said Cllr McNelis.

Galway Garda Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Michael Walsh, said that An Garda Síochána were ‘100 per cent’ behind the initiative, which would involve a multi-agency approach and a commitment to tackling the issues at local level.

“The critical element in this approach is to establish the root cause of any problem. By using the POP (problem-orientated-policing) approach, the aim will be to get local people and local community groups involved in the system,” said Sergeant Walsh.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.