Munster outlines case where gardai did not respond

THE area’s garda chief has urged people to report crimes and has said that he’ll follow up on a ‘disbolical response’ to one incident highlighted by Deputy Imelda Munster (inset) at the meeting.

‘Are you concerned that people have given up reporting crime,’ she asked the gardai, Supt Andrew Watters saying he would be concerned if people are not reporting crime as they can’t investigate it as a result.

She gave an example of an incident one Saturday evening recently when a worker had €2,000 worth of tools stolen from his van at 9.10pm.

A suspect vehicle was identified and within minutes they rang the gardai with the reg number and the make of car.

He was told there was just one patrol car and nobody could get to him until later. They went to the station the following morning and reported the incident again and followed up twice after that, but nobody contacted them.

‘ That’s a classic case and that’s not providing a service,’ she said. Chief Supt Christy Mangan said if that was the reponse the person got then it was a ‘diabolical response’ and if the gardai don’t know there’s a crime, they can’t target it. He said the response wasn’t acceptable and he will be taking firm action.

‘Sometimes we get property back and can’t reunite it with the owner,’ he added.

Cllr Richie Culhane agreed that the response was ‘unacceptable’ but the gardai were ‘on the ground’ and doing a great job locally.