Policing forums can be a vital bridge between communities and the gardaí in tackling drugs and anti-social behaviour, Sinn Féin claimed today.

IF the language used in the latest Morris Tribunal reports sounded familiar, it’s because many of the comments and criticisms made by Mr Justice Frederick Morris also featured in his first report two years ago.

COMMUNITIES are to be given a say in the policing of their own towns and neighbourhoods with the setting up of the first Joint Policing Committees (JPCs).

Communities around the country have been granted a direct input to form the best ways for gardaí to tackle crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour under a joint policing initiative launched today.

CORK is the only major Irish city to be excluded from a radical policing project designed to combat anti-social behaviour.

WATERFORD city is to get a team of community-based gardaí from next month as part of a major drive to tackle crime.

Cormac O'Keeffe

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday said there was no place for those with “a ballot box in one hand and a money-laundered bank draft in the other”.

A SENIOR policing official has warned that Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s planned Joint Policing Committees will be ineffective unless they are give proper powers and a defined role.