The Garda Commissioner and Justice Minister are being called on to urgently consider staffing and resourcing a public text system for reporting anti-social behaviour in Clare.
A similar “See It. Say It. Sorted” text system in the UK, developed to support the transport police service there has reportedly been successful in reducing crime, particularly in urban areas.
But while comparable schemes have been trialled in parts of Ireland, they’ve faced a number of challenges.
The “See It. Say It. Sorted.” initiative in the UK is a public-facing text service primarily run by the British Transport Police, allowing commuters and the public to quickly report suspicious activity, anti-social behaviour, or crime.
There’s currently no equivalent service operating in Clare and instead Gardaí accept reports through 999 or 112 calls, calls to local stations or the Garda confidential line, emails to stations and online declarations for theft offences.
An Garda Síochána says it’s continuing to look at ways to improve engagement with the public, and is encouraging people to report any criminal activity.
However, in response to the motion raised at this month’s meeting of Ennis Municipal District, Superintendent John Ryan said that developing such a text reporting system at this time could draw members away from high-visibility patrols.
The Ennis-based Superintendent also said there’s a risk that important reports could be submitted through the platform at times when it’s not resourced, such as nights and weekends.
The proposal was put forward by Clarecastle-based Fianna Fáil Councillor Tom O’Callaghan, who believes the idea is worth progressing.
The proposal has been discussed by members of Clare’s Local Community Safety Partnership, which has recognised both its potential benefits and limitations, including the risk of excluding individuals who may not be able to use text messaging services.
The partnership noted that similar initiatives were rolled out under pilot schemes in other counties in Ireland, which showed promising initial results, but were ultimately discontinued, due to resource and structural challenges.
A subgroup is now being set up to examine ways of improving public reporting and awareness, particularly around the use of emergency numbers like 999 and 112 and this will be incorporated into the wider Local Community Safety Plan.
Chair of Clare LCSP, PJ Ryan says Garda resourcing remains an issue and serious changes are needed to combat crime in the county.
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