I spent part of my morning in Store Street Garda station reviewing the annual policing plan for 2010 with the Chief Super for the Central Area and his senior management. In this we reviewed the policing plans of last year and then the plans for this year.
Key points included:-
- Firstly, the target of reducing headline crime by 5% versus last year. Community policing was identified as an essential strategy for doing this.
- Secondly, the objective from the Chief Super for the area is that an Inspector is responsible for a geographic district and that he has a team below him charged with delivering policing for that community. All reminds me so much of Series 4 of The Wire!
- Thirdly, the amount of effort that goes into dealing with organised crime was emphasised. A lot of time is spent tracking activity and the status of individual gang members. This is good to know given that Fine Gael made the decision to support the Government in their new gangland legislation last year.
- Fourthly, the increased use of the 2009 Housing Miscellaneous Provision Act for dealing with persistent antisocial behaviour. This gives the local authority the ability to evict council tenants for criminal behaviour.
- Finally, the increased problem of cigarette trafficking and the huge amounts of profit that it can generate on the black market.
I stressed the need to maintain community policing levels and also welcomed the initiative to keep criminal victims aware of progress on their case. This will then be reviewed at the next Joint Policing Committee which takes place in the first week of February.