Solutions not queries
by Linda O'Reilly Updated: Wednesday, 22nd September, 2010 5:00pm
The chief superintendent in the Cavan/Monaghan division, Colm Rooney, has told members of the County Cavan Joint Policing Committee that gardaí want solutions and not questions from them at quarterly meetings of the new body.
The county committee gathered on Monday evening for its second meeting. The purpose of these committees is to provide a forum where a local authority and senior garda officers, with the participation of Oireachtas members and community interests, can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting the policing of the area.
Following lengthy submissions and questions from members on Monday on a wide variety of policing concerns including rural policing, community alert schemes, break-ins, the theft of cattle, drugs, gardaí on the beat and community policing, Chief Supt. Rooney reminded the members that the purpose of the forum was for the members to make suggestions and recommendations to gardaí, rather than highlighting problems and asking questions.
"In order to get the proper value out of this committee, we need recommendations on how to deal with problems that are out there. You need to help us to do our job better," he said. The top police officer in this division reminded the members that it's much more difficult and complex an issue to come up with solutions and answers. Chief Supt. Rooney said the county joint policing committees were intended to work at a level above what's discussed and debated at joint policing boards specific to towns.
He contended that county committees should debate policing issues, teasing them out and coming up with constructive suggestions as to how to address the issues at hand. Chief Supt. Rooney said, for example, that perhaps the committee could look at the social factors contributing to crime, as well as the personal responsibilities of different individuals and agencies in terms of addressing those issues and combating crime.
Coming up with constructive solutions in such areas could deliver a real "long-term" benefit in terms of crime prevention, he said, and would deliver much better value for the community from the County Cavan Joint Policing Committee.
"When we were young, the community policed the community and the gardaí assisted. During the Celtic Tiger era we lost the community and the question now is how do we reinvigorate the community?" asked Chief Supt. Rooney.
He also told the members that there was no point in talking about the resources that gardaí would like to have but rather to focus on making the best of the resources that are available locally.
The chairman of the joint policing committee, Cllr. Sean McKiernan, welcomed the chief superintendent's comments. He noted that as it was only the second meeting of the body, it was still "very much a learning process" for the members. Cllr. McKiernan also agreed with a suggestion by Chief Supt. Rooney that meetings of the committee should be "thematic", for example dealing with the drug issue one night, community policing another and so on.
The meeting was also addressed on the Community Alert scheme by Vanessa Clarke, the development officer for Cavan/Monaghan and the council executive presented a new draft strategy on how its plans anti-social behaviour in local authority housing. Full reports next week.
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