Gardaí appointed to community alert groups

COMMUNITY alert groups across East Clare are to be re-invigorated as part of a garda plan to increase community awareness and involvement across the Scariff district.

Community Alert groups currently operating across East Clare have been designated a local garda, who will have an initial meeting with each organisation by the end of May and a further two meetings will be held before the end of the year. This is with a view to revitalising the groups and keeping an active correspondence between the community and the local gardaí.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, Sergeant Joe Fallon of Scariff Garda Station explained, “Community alert creates an awareness of responsibility in the community for people to help look after everyone else. It ensures that unusual door-to-door salesmen or suspicious activity is reported to the gardaí and that this information is followed up on. It also means that vulnerable people in the community can be catered for so that they feel safe and are looked in upon from time to time.”
“The community alert schemes create a sense of community and there are very active schemes operating in East Clare and our intention is to simply re-invigorate them. We hope to hold three meetings a year with the groups and I would hope to have the first of these meetings take place with each of the groups by May,” he added.
The gardaí assigned to each community scheme include Garda Niall Naughton to Kilkishen community alert, Sergeant Denis Swift to Tulla and Feakle community alerts, Garda Gerard Slattery to Dromindoora and Flagmount community alerts, Garda Liam Donoghue to Scariff community alert, Garda Pat McGrath to Mountshannon and Whitegate community alerts. Meanwhile, Bodyke and Tuamgraney community alerts will be looked after by Garda Brian Quinn, who is due to take up duty in Scariff Garda Station next week.
Sergeant Fallon explained the importance of having alert schemes in local communities and encouraged people to get involved with their local community watch group.
“The importance of having an alert scheme is where people see some unusual activity and they take note of a license plate or they take note of something that is out of place. Then by reporting these facts to the gardaí it may lead to the detection of a crime,” he concluded.