Community policing priority for new Super
By Mary Dennehy
WHEN new Garda recruit Ian Lackey came to Tallaght in 1992 for a six-month training stint in the community policing unit he could never have guessed that 25 years later he’d be back as the area’s Superintendent.
Superintendent Ian Lackey has taken up the post vacated by former Superintendent Peter Duff, who was at the helm of the Tallaght district, which includes Rathfarnham, for the past five years.
Supt Lackey is no stranger to Tallaght - or Rathfarnham, where he lived as a child - with his first placement as a new recruit seeing him work alongside the community Garda for Fettercairn in 1992.
After a six-month stint, Supt Lackey moved onto positions in Kildare before coming back to Tallaght to serve as a Sergeant between 2000 and 2003.
Then it was onto Naas for three years, Garda HQ for five years and then Granard in Longford, where he served as Superintendent until 2013 when he moved to Naas for two years.
Since 2015, Supt Lackey has been involved in An Garda Siochana’s Modernisation and Renewal Programme – and is now in the hot seat at Tallaght.
When asked what his first priority as Superintendent is, Supt Lackey answered, “community police”.
“There has always been a strong community focus and community ethos here [at Tallaght Garda Station] since the eighties,” he told The Echo.
“Resources have in the last few years been stretched but we hope in the next few months to supplement the community policing unit…on a phased basis.”
According to Superintendent Lackey, there are currently 20 officers in the community policing unit at Tallaght, a number which he hopes to increase by between 20 and 30 per cent in the coming months.
These community officers will be predominantly based in Tallaght, with Rathfarnham then being examined.
It is also hoped to fill the community policing positions with officers currently based at Tallaght who have an existing knowledge of the area – with new recruits replacing them across the station’s other units.
“Everything we do should be about community,” Supt Lackey told The Echo.
“Every Garda should be a community Garda in some way.
“I consider myself a community policeman even though I’m a Superintendent.”
He added: “We will have to continue to manage as best we can with the resources we have.
“However, I think if we manage to get [the community policing] right other things will flow from there.”
“There can be the mentality [among the force] that community policing is the softer side of policing but it’s not, and it gives an officer a very good grounding.”
Fully aware of the “busy and challenging” nature of the Tallaght district, Supt Lackey said that he was happy to be back in the area and meeting with individuals and community groups.
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