Goingoverthetop with‘zerotolerance’

May 1997

Editorial Comment ‘Zero tolerance’ on crime is much in the news these days and it certainly seems to be the new Garda approach in South Wexford, where offences considered insignificant by the public are nevertheless being tackled by law officers.

In the past week, a garda took a woman to court for leaving her car unlocked, with the keys in the ignition.

It’s something that many of us have done at some stage or other, and never thought twice about it. The woman’s solicitor commented that hardly anyone in the court would even realise it was an offence.

Also recently, a couple were prosecuted for walking on the wrong side of the road in Kilmore Quay.

Their defence was that there was better lighting on the ‘wrong’ side, and also that their way was blocked by parked cars there, in the manner that it was on the ‘correct’ side.

In both cases, the Judge applied the Probation Act.

People generally have been calling for tougher action on crime, and in that context there been much debate about ‘zero tolerance’, a blanket policy of cracking down on even the most minor misdemeanours in the belief that doing so may prevent more serious offences.

However, it is questionable whether much is to be gained from prosecuting people for such trivial ‘crimes’.

We will watch with interest to see if any further such prosecutions arise.