Great initiative for community to work together
SETTING up the text-alert system for the Ballintogher community was a step in the right direction to fighting against the recent burglaries occurring in the region, the meeting was told.
Garda Tony Lavin said country people are great for looking out for their neighbours and called on people that if they notice anything unusual to report it to gardaí straight away, even if they think it’s minor.
He said the text-alert system is a great initiative for the people of Ballintogher to work alongside gardaí in tackling the burglars.
He added that it was important for homeowners to be vigilant and said it’s amazing how many leave windows open and doors unlocked which make it easy for burglars to gain entry.
Another aspect is unlocked cars particularly at night he pointed out.
“The amount of cars that are tried at night is huge.
“They will try each car and eventually they will come across one that is open.
“The amount of people especially in the country that go to bed and don’t lock their cars at night is huge. Housing estates in town too are being done. Burglars will take whatever they can and then they are gone again,” he added.
The whole set-up of the text alert system was also discussed in detail at the community alert meeting on Wednesday.
People had a number of questions regarding its operation.
They were informed that the gardaí themselves run the text alert system with the phone numbers of everyone who is interested in joining supplied to their particular system.
How it works is that members of the community contact gardaí with information say about suspicious vehicles in their area and then the gardaí contact send out the text alert.
Declan Scanlon asked whether it would be possible to link up text alerts in areas close-by each other, such as the one already in place in Dromahair and the one in Ballintogher so people could find out immediately if there was anything to watch out for in their communities.
Cllr Thomas Healy was also at the meeting and he said that the text alerts established in Sligo and also Ballisodare were running successfully.
He said a good idea would be to tie in areas such as Ballygawley with Ballintogher as it was cheaper to run the text alert if it was being used by larger groups.
“Text alerts are only as good as the people on the ground and people should be willing to pick up the phone with even the simplest little thing,” he added.
Garda Lavin told people not to be afraid to take out their phones to get pictures if people come into their property. “As it’s very hard to come up with an accurate description of someone, don’t be afraid to take a picture of them or their vehicle,” he added.