Communities striving to form neighbourhood watch scheme

THE COMMUNITY of Saggart are striving to achieve an official neighbourhood watch scheme following a community policing meeting which was held recently.

The communities of Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle held a Community Policing Meeting which was led by Superintendent Anthony Twomey. The meeting was held at the Rathcoole Community Centre and had a large garda presence including the Community Sergeant, John Coughlan, and Sergeants Sweeney and Carol and local Inspector Damien Fitzpatrick.

Local Community Gardaí Declan Crowley, Liam Sex, Tom Grace and Colm Byrne were also in attendance as well as The Joint Community Policing Partnership’s District Officer, Sue Dorgan.

Questions were raised at the meeting by residents, some of whom have taken up the role of Area Coordinator and are striving to achieve an official Neighbourhood Watch scheme across all of Saggart. These areas so far include Coldwater Lakes, Crossforge, Drury Mills / Drury Park, Fairgreen, Millrace, Pairc Mhuire, Saggart Lakes and Slade Castle.

“It was fantastic to see over 100 residents from the areas actively participating,” said Juliet Henshaw, one of the members of the Saggart Village Residents Association.

“The meeting was opened by Superintendent Twomey who gave an overview of statistics which reflected a drop in domestic crime, which is likely to be as a result of people being at home more over the last couple of years. Unfortunately, there has been a 50+% increase in online crime.”

One of the announcements made at the meeting was that from Monday, April 18, there will be regular daytime hours at Rathcoole Garda Station, with two full-time positions appointed with a promise of weekend hours and late hours to follow when resources are made available.

“The superintendent carried out a study in 2020 to decipher the number of gardai required in the Saggart, Rathcoole, Newcastle area,” said Juliet. “We are at just over 50% of the headcount at which we realistically need to be.

“Incidents were raised by residents some of which were known to the gardai who are following up on same.  To assist the plea of more gardai being appointed to the three areas, there is something as a resident of Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle you can do which is to report all crime. If it is not reported, it is not known and therefore not reflected in our needs.”

One welcomed outcome of the meeting is a commitment from Superintendent Twomey to hold a quarterly meeting with the Joint Community Policing members including Neighbourhood Watch Area Coordinators. Saggart Village Residents’ Association (SVRA) have made its Heritage Centre available for such meetings as will Rathcoole’s Community Centre.