Crack-down on street thuggery

November 1994

A special garda task force has been set up to combat thuggery and public disorder on our streets.

The new unit has zeroed in on specific trouble spots around the district since its inception, resulting in increased arrests and a fall in recorded crime in target areas.

Drunkenness, rowdiness and other public order offences, together with vandalism, larcenies from cars, muggings, and other street crime are top of the unit’s hit list, while officers have also been detailed to provide back-up to the local garda drugs uni in its ongoing campaign.

The new task force has a roving brief covering the entire divisional catchment area from Balybrack in the north to Kilcoole in the south, but has been focussing particular attention on known trouble spots in the community since its inception this autumn.

‘We have been re-deplying the resources at our disposal, and have been getting more patrols out there onto the streets to tackle public disorder’, Garda Superintendent Michael McCarthy said this week.

The local police force believe that the measures have been achieving results too, with crime detection on the increase and reported crime on the decline since the new measures came into effect.

‘The gardai have a responsibility to tackle crime in whatever way that it manifests itself. We did believe, however, that there were certain areas of enforcement which needed attention, and have gone about dealing with that with this initiative,’ said Superintendent McCarthy.

He explained that similar measures had been taken in other districts in response to crime problems, and that the creation of such a task force was not uncommon in present day policing.

There was been widespread concern in recent months at the growing levels of crime, with a number of recent violent incidents in Bray provoking outrage in the local community.