Community group donates sat-navs to gardaí in bid to stave off gangs

How do you make sure gardaí respond promptly to your 999 call? Simple — gift them a sat-nav for their patrol car.

That’s what one community alert group has done to protect themselves from rampaging criminal gangs.

Dunderrow Community Alert chairman, Ger O’Leary confirmed they paid for GPS mapping systems to be installed in two patrol cars in Kinsale, Co Cork, last week.

“We were looking at ways to ensure emergency services got to scenes as quickly as possible, so we decided to get them for the patrol cars which cover our area,” said Mr O’Leary.

He said all properties in the locality were being fed into the systems with the help of an expert from GPS Ireland who has instructed gardaí on their use.

“Already the feedback from the gardaí has been very positive.”

Mr O’Leary said community alert organisations should copy the initiative.

“In places where rural Garda stations are closing some gardaí coming to calls in those areas won’t be familiar with locations and these devices will help them. Also, you will have new gardaí coming to places and they will also benefit from it. It will save valuable time.”

Cllr Kevin Murphy, who lives in Dunderrow, helped to facilitate the installation of the systems in the patrol cars. He told a county joint policing committee such systems should be rolled out in rural Cork as a pilot scheme and then nationally.

“It’s a no-brainer... They should be in every patrol car,” said the councillor.

Sources in the Garda Representative Association, which represents 11,200 rank-and-file gardaí, said some of its members have used their personal GPS systems when on duty. Armed regional support units have satellite navigation equipment installed in their cars because they cover larger areas than normal patrols