Tag Archives: Sergeant Triona Brooks

WITH Clare people continuing to fall foul of bogus callers and rogue tradesmen, gardai have issued security advice to the public. Clare crime prevention officer Sergeant Triona Brooks has provided a check list of advice to follow should you be confronted with suspicious callers • Are you expecting callers? If not, look out the window to see the caller. • Have a viewer fitted in your door – you are safer behind a closed door. • Have a door chain / limiter fitted and keep the chain/ limiter on, if you must open the door use the limiter. There are electric doorbells that link to your mobile phone. • Make sure your back door is locked before you go to the front door • If you are going to engage, ask for ID – a genuine caller won’t mind! • Use recommended tradespeople, avoid using the services of cold callers. • The basic rule is if you don’t know the …

A MAN in his twenties was arrested in relation to alleged interference with cars in Ennis last week. In the early hours of Tuesday morning at 2.48am a call was received at Ennis Garda Station saying that a man was trying car doors in the Westwood estate on Golf Links Road. Gardaí went immediately to the scene and apprehended a male who had a volume of coins in his pockets. The man was arrested and detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Ennis Garda Station. He was later charged and released from custody to appear at a sitting of Ennis District Court on a later date in October. “We would like to thank the member of the public who rang in this call to Ennis Garda Station,” said Clare Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks.

THIRSTY thieves had a busy afternoon last Tuesday swooping to steal ten kegs of beer from outside two Clare pubs. Gardai are appealing to the public for information about the theft of the kegs from outside the pubs in two Clare villages. Both incidents occurred on the same afternoon at locations 17km distant from one another. On Tuesday, October 5, between 11.30am and 4pm, four kegs of Guinness and one keg of Tuborg were stolen from outside a public house on the Main Street in Tulla. Between 12 noon and 1.30pm three kegs of Guinness and two kegs of Tuborg were stolen from the car park of a public house on Church Street, Sixmilebridge. This would have been a busy enough time in both these areas, according to Clare crime prevention officer Sergeant Triona Brooks. “If anyone saw these thefts taking place or saw anything suspicious, we would ask them to contact Ennis Garda Station on 6848100,” said Sergeant Brooks.

GARDAÍ in Clare are warning the public to be wary of potential scam phone calls or texts. This comes after a quick-thinking North Clare resident foiled an attempt by a scam artist to get their financial details over the phone. According to gardaí the man received a phonecall from a 0043 number last week. The person on the other end said they were from Visa security in Dublin and that at 6 am someone had bought a phone on eBay for €150 while at the same time €1,100 was transferred from his account to Brazil. The person asked had they given their card details to anyone. Luckily the Clare man realised the call was suspicious and hung up. In advising people to be wary, Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks revealed that she has also been unsuccessfully targeted by scammers. She outlined that she recently received a text purporting to be from Bank of Ireland. The text stated that her …

THE Parish Priest of Tulla has made an appeal to people to be vigilant, after what he described as “heartless” thefts from a number of graves in the town. The incidents were reported to Gardaí last Friday after a visitor to the graveyard, which is on the Hill of Tulla, discovered that freshly-bought plants had been stolen from a grave. It is understood that a number of other graves were tampered with and that rose bushes were among the items stolen from two of them. The incidents have caused considerable distress locally and Gardaí are appealing for information. “People are so upset,” said Fr Brendan Quinlivan. “First and foremost, it’s very distressing that this should have happened in a place that is so scared to so many people. Something like this has a profound effect on everyone, but particularly on those who are grieving the loss of a loved one and are already carrying that very heavy burden. To do …

THOSE looking for love in Clare are being warned to be wary of online ‘romance scams’ which are reported to be on the rise. According to Clare’s Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Triona Brooks, “Use of the internet for dating purposes has increased and so unfortunately the number of scams associated with it and amounts of money lost.” She particularly warns against responding to requests for inappropriate photographs, saying they could be used for future blackmail attempts. And she has appealed to anybody who feels they have been a victim of an online scammer to contact gardai. Sergeant Brooks explains, “A romance scam is basically a scam employed by criminals which involves pretending to be romantically interested in a person with the objective of gaining their affection and trust with the perceived promise of a continued romantic involvement – the ultimate purpose of the scam is to encourage the victim to transfer funds to accounts in the control of the criminal …

GARDAÍ are appealing for continued public compliance with travel restrictions as part of Covid-19 public health guidelines. This week saw a ramped up presence of Gardaí on arterial routes across the country, including those into West and North Clare. Alongside permanent checkpoints which had been in place since Easter, Gardaí have increased the presence of rolling check-points as Operation Fanacht intensified between Tuesday last until the end of the May Bank Holiday. The operation will also see Gardaí conduct high visibility patrols at major tourist locations, parks and natural beauty spots. At any one time, there will be over 2,500 Gardaí involved in checkpoints or high visibility patrolling. Clare Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Tríona Brooks said people were once again being asked to say in their primary residence and not to travel to holiday homes. “If you are found to be travelling to a holiday home or secondary residence you will be turned back,” she said. “In particular, we would …

A number of domestic violence incidents were reported to the gardaí in Clare early last month with Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Triona Books assuring victims that they gardai are them to help them. Sergeant Triona Brooks, who is based at Ennis Garda Station, said, “We want to encourage anybody with difficulties in relation to domestic violence to contact the gardaí – we are concerned that victims of any crime but especially domestic violence might be reluctant to contact gardaí as they may think that we are too busy to help them. “The Garda service in Clare has not been impacted by Covid 19 in fact, because of the restructuring of An Garda Síochána there are more gardaí than ever on our streets and in our communities around the county and we are ready to assist and protect all victims including victims of  domestic abuse.” Sergeant Brooks said that Operation Faoiseamh now uses the Garda Victims Services Office to make phone …