CRIME: Offaly Community Alert group AGM reflects on core values of neighbourliness and civic responsibility

At the 2024 AGM of Rahan Community Alert the committee took the opportunity to reflect and then prepare for the future. They reminded everybody that there is room for more members to join the group. They are very much aware of the support within the community for Community Alert but sometimes this is passive support and they would welcome any help on offer.

It was an opportunity also to reflect on the core values and objectives of the Community Alert Groups which were set up not only to engage with the gardai to prevent crime and assist in apprehending offenders but it also has a wider remit to enhance the quality of life in our community.

It aims to bring members of the community together to support each other by promoting neighbourliness and civic responsibility. This can be achieved by being alert to individuals or vehicles acting in a suspicious manner and to report these activities to the gardai. It is also a platform to remind us to be alert to our neighbours in a non- intrusive way to support them in time of need and to look out for signs of loneliness, isolation and ill health. It provides a basis for promoting reforms to make the area a better place to live in.

Besides the Gardai it is also aligned with the County Council, the Health Board and Muintir na Tire to represent the views of the community to effect change at both local but national levels.

The committee highlighted the activities of the group :

• The Text Alert system cascades information from the gardai that is relevant to the community. The Gardai welcome information that comes from the community. An approved text will be sent from An Gardai to the chairperson and then it will be relayed to each of 17 area representatives who will pass it on to the community in their area. Please note that sometimes An Gardai will not send out text alerts due to operational reasons or due to personal sensitivities.

• They help with the personal alarms by assisting people in applying for them and liaising with the deliverers to make it as smooth and stress free for the applicant. It is centrally controlled and three relatives or supports are contacted to be made aware of any incident as well as the emergency services if necessary.

• They support and advise on the Bottle in a Fridge system, where emergency services will check a fridge if people are alone to look for the bottle which will have a list of medications that the person is taking.

• The development of a CCTV System to serve the area has been an ongoing project for the last few years. Following an initial extensive survey of the area there was overwhelming support from the community for such a scheme. We had the full co - operation of the Gardai in devising the system. Given the size of the parish and the topography of the area it was decided on a system where each site stands alone and could be read from a distance from a designated computer with security. This meant that any host would not be disturbed and from an economic point of view as they were made up of similar parts they would be cheaper to source. To finance the system, we needed to fundraise to a level that together with the Department of Justice grant would cover the cost of the system. Our partnership with Shamrocks GAA was very successful and well supported by the community. We have now sufficient funding to finance the system and have suspended fundraising. The County planning Department were satisfied with our application that the twelve sites were exempted development provided by Section 4 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. We were granted licences under the Section 254 to erect alert signage associated with the scheme.

Due to the GDPR issues the progress was stalled due to the necessity to introduce new legislation.

Since our last AGM, the Garda Siochana (Digital Recording Bill) has passed through into law. A new body, the Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSP), has been initiated, but not yet met although invitations have been issued to attract chairpersons for each county. This is the body that we will engage with via the County Council to request the Garda Commissioner to approve our system and then the Council can apply for the funding from the Department of Justice. As the Gardai and the County Council will be responsible for the control of data, they are in consultation to develop a protocol. We have no indication of where they are on this document. The Council will be responsible for maintenance. While this delay is a source of great frustration for the committee we have to be pragmatic about the situation and be patient until we get the completion of this work. There are many examples of systems been shut down; councils been fined large amounts of money due to breaches of the old 2005 / 2006 Act. Numerous groups are in the same position as we are and it is likely that there will still be a delay in getting a decision on our proposal. We have reached out to the Council to engage in preparatory talks to ensure a smooth and fast path to gain the funding and start work on the project as the community desires. We continue to monitor developments and have conducted a recent survey in the community with an outline of the proposed design and how it works including a map of the location. We were really encouraged by the positive response we received.

• The group took part in the PPN initiative to carry out marking of property with the owners’ postcode which has the effect of deterring some criminals and also helps the gardai in returning property that has been recovered. To reinforce the effect of this initiative the group obtained funding to distribute warning signs around the parish. We were also able to replace the Welcome to Rahan sign that was damaged as well as the Community Alert signs that were broken or removed. All of this will help to dissuade people entering the area to carry out crime.

The Gardai were represented by Garda Dennis Glennon who conducted the election of officers and the present committee were all returned and joined by two new members, Michael Scully and Jim Cunningham. Garda Glennon and his colleague Sergeant Graham Kavanagh complemented the group on their work and looked forward to working with them in the next year to enhance the safety and wellbeing of the Rahan community.

The group will continue to promote the core values and objectives of the Community Alert and we are most grateful to Sergeant Graham Kavanagh who has introduced us to it and selflessly promoted it over the years. It is our wish that the work of Community Alert will be supported by the Gardai management to ensure that it provides the communities with the best possible support to keep us confident in our safety. We hope it gets due exposure in the Gardai training manuals as it is an excellent initiative in developing positive relations in community policing.