A Cork North Central general election candidate claims just half of a batch of 20 new community gardaí positions promised last year have been filled.

A specialist Garda unit investigating sex crimes is not expected to be able to take on new cases until at least next March because it still is not properly staffed.

Gardaí working in the Cork City Division say they are weighed down with paperwork, understaffed in comparison with other divisions, and have been stripped of frontline officers who have not been replaced when transferred to new specialist units.

Chronic shortages of gardaí in Cork meant just two members of the force were patrolling the city centre one night and a special unit investigating sex crimes is unable to take on new cases because it is not adequately staffed.

Gardaí who threatened to walk away from Dickensian conditions at a garda station in a Cork suburb will soon be able to operate out of a modern facility.

Plans to double the number of community police in Cork will provide gardaí with the capacity to saturate antisocial blackspots with high-visibility patrols.

Gardaí in Cork believe they have dismantled an organised car-theft gang which was behind a spate of incidents in the city and suburbs in recent months.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has 30 targets in its sights in Cork but has asked the public for more tip-offs about people who may be living suspiciously lavish lifestyles.

A total of 22 motorists have tested positive for driving under the influence of drugs so far this year in Cork, with cannabis and cocaine the most common drugs detected.

The largest Joint Policing Committee (JPC) in the country is to ask the insurance industry to provide discounts to customers who detail descriptions, makes, models, and serial numbers of valuable property in a logbook.

Fears have been expressed about the re-emergence of so-called joyriding in Cork City after an almost 70% spike in the number of reported car thefts.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is conducting 14 investigations in Cork city and county, targeting drug dealers, gangs of burglars, and those involved in organised prostitution.

Nearly 30% more suspected drink-drivers have been arrested in Cork city and county in the past three months compared to the same period last year.

Garda detectives are set to withdrawn 24/7 armed cover in most of the Munster region this Saturday, July 1, following the breakdown of talks in a row with senior management over the supply of weapons, writes Sean O’Riordan.

Garda detectives are set to withdrawn 24/7 armed cover in most of the Munster region this Saturday, July 1, following the breakdown of talks in a row with senior management over the supply of weapons.

The chairman of the Cork County Joint Policing Committee (JPC) is contacting Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan urging her to provide detectives in Cork with proper firearms training and bullet-proof shields to defuse a row which could lead to the withdrawal in the region of round-the-clock armed cover.

More than 80 garda detectives are to stop providing armed cover on a 24/7 basis in the Cork region amid claims they have been left vulnerable by garda management’s refusal to give them proper training and equipment to tackle gangland crime or terrorist attacks.

Gardaí have put on extra patrols in North and East Cork following a spate of burglaries, many of which are being perpetrated in broad daylight by criminals from Dublin.

A Garda operation in Dublin against serial burglars resulted in a 54% increase in break-ins to homes in Cork City and suburbs.

Gardaí have made one of the biggest heroin seizures in Cork this year, which they say “would have done a lot of damage”.

A drugs taskforce met in Cork yesterday to discuss how best to tackle the city’s growing heroin crisis which saw a little boy jabbed by an addict’s needle he found discarded in his school yard.

The dwindling number of gardaí patrolling Cork City streets is at crisis point, according to the organisation representing rank-and-file members of the force.

Only emergency calls are monitored at the sole station in Cork City and county which records telephone conversations.

An estimated €1.5m worth of counterfeit Ugg boots have been seized from a warehouse on the northside of Cork City.

They say crime doesn’t pay, but in this unique case it will help highlight the good work that many previously unsung young heroes do for their communities.

A major shake-up of policing is on the cards for Cork which will involve the axing of two garda districts.

A man was fighting for his life in hospital last night after he was stabbed in the neck during a row on the northside of Cork City.

GARDAÍ believe two recent fatal accidents in Co Cork were likely to have been caused by young drivers taking their eye off the road while texting.

GARDAÍ carried out dawn raids at three houses in Cork yesterday during which they arrested four people in connection with a botched bank raid last August.

POLITICIANS and senior gardaí have reacted angrily to comments made by a man claiming to represent the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, who suggested on a radio show that he could help organise vigilante action against drug dealers operating in a part of Cork city.

GARDAÍ say that the killer of a 36-year-old suspected drug dealer may have followed him for days before firing a number of shots into him at almost point-blank range in the hallway of his rented home.

THE Garda Commissioner is in talks with the Justice Minister in an effort to fill senior Garda positions despite the Government ban on promotions in the force.

A NUMBER of senior Garda positions in Cork and Limerick are likely to remain unfilled because of an embargo on promotions within the force.

TWO well-known gardaí serving in Cork and Limerick have been promoted to the rank of assistant Garda commissioner.

GARDAÍ have seized 110 cars in Cork city, many of which were a “deplorable condition”, as part of a new scheme to improve road safety.

DRINK-DRIVING arrests have soared in Cork, Kerry and Limerick and gardaí are planning to seize cars driven by so-called “boy racers”.

DRINK driving arrests in Cork city are set to break last year’s record within the next few days, according to gardaí who have seen a staggering 41% increase in detections since the introduction of mandatory breath testing.

ROAD deaths in Cork, Kerry and Limerick in the first two months of this year are up 50% on the comparative period for 2006 and well ahead of the national trend.