NeighbourhoodWatch forStameenlaunched
SUPERINTENDENT Andrew Watters was on hand for the launch of the Neighbourhood Watch for Stameen which took place recently in The Black Bull.
A large crowd of ocal residents were in attendance for the launch, alongside Garda Sinead Malone, the Community Garda for the Dublin Road, Crime Prevention Officer Vincent Jackson, Superintendent Watters, Mayor Pio
Smith and local representatives Oliver
Tully and Tommy Byrne and Peter O’Leary from the Bryanstown Village Neighbourhood Watch.
The idea for the Neighbourhood
Watch came from the local residents association who wanted to improve safety in the long established estate.
Agneta Murphy, Secretary of the Stameen Residents Association said: ‘We’ve never had a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in Stameen before. We tried to set one up a few years ago but it didn’t get off the ground.’
However, she said the plan gained momentum again after the area experienced a number of burglaries in recent months.
‘We’d had a few burglaries and we had some elderly residents who were afraid to answer the door, even to members of the Residents Association. ‘So we looked into setting up the Neighbourhood Watch about six months ago. We got in touch with the community garda and then Pio Smith, the mayor helped us out a lot, as did Cllr Richie Culhane.’
The group surveyed all 220 houses in the estate and received a very positive response to the idea of setting up a Neighbourhood Watch.
The scheme works with a team of street co-ordinators with the estate divided into six or seven zones and a co-ordinator in place for each zone.
She said the launch itself was a fantastic success with a large number of residents in attendance and it is hoped the new Neighbourhood Watch scheme will help to make the estate a safer place. We have all our signage up and we’re looking into the possibility of putting up CCTV cameras in the near future.’