‘The county boundary is now the policing boundary’ - Super

Supt John Callanan took over the post from Superintendent Séan Grant who was assigned to Cavan back in October last year following the appointment of former Supt Padraic Jones to lead the Garda National Community Engagement Bureau.

Supt Callanan's role, post the divisional merger with Louth, sees the Cavan station assume specific responsibility for Community Engagement across the county.

Before moving to Cavan, Supt Callanan worked out of Garda HQ in the Phoenix Park, at the Strategic Transformation Office (STO), with responsibility for the development and implementation of the Garda Modernisation & Renewal Programme.

However, before that he worked as superintendent in Drogheda, heading up several serious investigations into alleged gangland activity in the east coast region.

“I'm coming from a change management background but I'm also coming back to my roots to an extent,” says Supt Callanan, who also served as inspector in Cavan, and as a garda in Monaghan for much of his early career.

He says the newly introduced policing model presents the potential for “great opportunity”.“We have the same personnel but brought together, so we have efficiencies in that. It certainly gives us more ability to utilise what we have where and when we need it.” A “practical” benefit of the change, he claims, is that new and additional gardaí have been assigned to stations in the furthest reaches of the county.

That's in addition to three newly promoted sergeants - two to Bailieborough and one to Ballyjamesduff - a requirement that needed addressing for almost 12 months.

“I've been able to put two extra members into Blacklion. I've been able to put someone into Swanlinbar, and I've been able to boost numbers in Ballyconnell and Belturbet,” Supt Callanan told the Celt.

“Because we have those efficiencies we can spread our resources geographically. It's great to have that capacity.”

Of the promotion of new sergeants, he adds: “With the population growth in those two areas, Virginia and Ballyjamesduff, certainly we need to get resources into those areas. We certainly have additional capacity now, and a drugs unit coming on stream as well, so it's very positive.”

Supt Callanan agrees that community policing really came into its own during the Covid pandemic.

“Every garda is a community guard at the heart of it. But, within the new policing model, we have the ability to assign more people in these roles, and the members engaged in ordinary day-to-day policing duties can engage with that also. The amalgamation of the two districts really gives us extra scope and the cover should we need to deploy for a particular incident or response.

"Should I need people in Bailieborough, I can now bring them in from Cavan for that period so long as they're needed. The county boundary is now the policing boundary. It's Cavan, and it is very much a whole county focused approach.”

While a crime hub has been established in Bailieborough; and an office for performance assurance in Carrickmacross; the divisional headquarters for the newly merged three county policing area is now located at the Millennium Centre in Dundalk. There has been some worry that the attention required to tackle serious crime in the eastern region could cannibalise the lion's share of resources.

These fears were heightened further when the divisional boundary was expanded further to include a portion of the town of Drogheda that was previously part of the Ashbourne District.

But Chief Superintendent Alan McGovern for the region assured that “focus won't be lost”.

“I can understand why people might have been apprehensive, but that hasn't been the case. As John says, this is about the right resources in the right place at the right time. Our job is to make sure that resources are distributed evenly and as fairly as we can. Cavan, from a community engagement perspective, is in a much better position than it was under the old divisional model.”