Kerry Chief Superintendent Tom Myers sits down with to discuss some of the most pressing crimes and trends in the county

A DEDICATED sex crimes unit, an increase in garda numbers, key successes targetting drug-dealing and the securing of hefty resources to refocus on some of the county’s most puzzling and infamous crimes.

Kerry Chief Superintendent Tom Myers can reasonably look to his 18-month tenure at the helm of An Garda Síochána in Kerry with some sense of making progress.

He inherited a service slashed to ribbons by one austerity budget after another, as well as a rank-and-file force that was left as demoralised here by national controversies and cuts to working conditions as in every other county.

A tough cop steeped in the war against drugs in Cork through his stint at the top of the city’s drugs division, he hit the ground running; gunning for drink-driving from the get go as well as the county’s drug-dealers.

His tenure will also be linked with Kerry’s most infamous cold case - the Kerry Babies; sensationally reopened earlier this year in an investigation he is ‘personally’ overseeing, as he told The Kerryman.

His time at the top will also see the creation of a new unit exclusively focused on bringing sex preda-a tors to justice.

A key initiative for Chief Suptt Myers is the rolling out of the neww Divisional Protected Services Unitt (DPSU) to investigate specialisedd crime types, including sexual crime,, human trafficking, child abuse andd domestic abuse.

It is hoped this unit will come as a huge boost for policing in Kerry with up to 12 highly-trained gardaí working on serious crimes.

“We know, working closely with the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, that there are cases out there that are not being reported,” Chief Supt Myers told The Kerryman.

“We need to get to those people, particularly the vulnerable children. We are looking forward and we are optimistictiiti thattht ththe DPSU will begin operating by the end of this year.

“That will be another big investment as we will have a dozen members in that working with Tusla and the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre.”

He said that while it may not seem like an area of massive concern to ordinary people going about their daily business, a huge volume of this crime does exist in Kerry.

He points to prostitution as one of the many areas that will come under the DPSU’s gaze:

“All you have to do is log online under Kerry and you will see the amount of ladies there, some by choice, others not. We have to be proactive in policing all of these areas, not reactive.”

One of his main priorities coming into the job was drink-driving - at a time when the crime is increasing in Kerry in a very worrying development.

The most recent figures show that 119 drink driving detections in Kerry this year alone.

“It is really frustrating the amount of people driving with excess alcohol in the county. It never ceases to amaze me that in this day and age people are still drinking and getting behind the wheel of a car.”

He said that drink-driving in Kerry ranks high in comparison to other areas and he is determined to crack-down on this and reduce the trend. The statistics show that it is younger drivers who are getting behind the wheel.

“Surely be to God if you are going to drink you can take someone with you that isn’t drinking or get a taxi, there are options.”

“The consequences of being put off the road are considerable, whether it is dropping the kids to the school or to football. Then there are the insurance issues.”

He is once again issuing a warning to the people of Kerry “If you drink and drive you will be caught”.

Seven new gardaí have been appointed to the renamed Roads Policing Unit, formerly the traffic corps, and there will be more checkpoints as a result.

He warned that this year more gardaí will be evident at festivals across Kerry to combat drink driving including Puck Fair, The Rose of Tralee and Listowel Races.

He said while drink-driving in a key priority so too are seatbelts, mobile phones and speeding and the roads policing unit are going to be concentrating on these in the coming months.

Drugs are another key challenge for Supt Myers who has spent much of his career working on national and international drug investigations - leading the Cork city drug squad for seven years.