Keeping an ever watchful eye to prevent crime

FOR many communities, a neighbourhood watch is no more than a few road signs and the occasional call to the local gardaí.

But in Sixmilebridge, a small Clare town, people are patrolling the streets and byroads every single night of the year.

The local Community Alert scheme has been operating quietly and successfully for more than 15 years.

It has done this without straying into the vigilante territory made famous by the gun-toting Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson in Death Wish.

The patrol members - there are 65 in total - are highly anxious to portray themselves as vigilant citizens rather than vigilantes.

“We emphasise at all times that observation is our main thing. Initially, the gardaí were a bit suspicious. But as time went on, when they saw what was actually happening, they were happy with it,” said PJ Ryan, one of the scheme’s committee members.

“It’s no contact. At all costs no contact,” said Noel O’Carroll, another committee member. He is a sales rep, originally from Dublin, but now a firm convert to the Sixmilebridge system.

The patrol members follow a well-tested routine. Two local people meet, collect a mobile phone and a torch from the local Greyhound Bar and go out into the night in their car.

“It’s very simple. You know all the back roads. You know what area you have to patrol. You patrol around, you observe, you see anything suspicious, you call it in to the guards,” said Noel O’Carroll.

Sixmilebridge is an ancient trading village which once attracted boats up the O’Garney river from as far away as Amsterdam. Nowadays, the old corn and paper mills have long closed but modern roads have revitalised the town. It is just seven miles from Shannon and around 15 miles from Limerick and Ennis. That’s convenient for commuters but also for travelling criminals.

“The fact that Sixmilebridge is in a central position between the bigger towns made it an area which was vulnerable. Most communities have community alert but they probably didn’t go down the area we did,” PJ Ryan said.

Community Alert is now a registered charity, which has allowed it to get grant assistance for the personal alarms it supplies to the elderly and to hold church gate collections. This helps to pay for the stationary and the use of mobile phones to alert gardaí of suspicious vehicles. But all the rest comes out of members’ own pockets.

“It’s all voluntary. Time and petrol and sleep,” said Noel O’Carroll. “It’s not that bad if you weight up the benefit of it. But it’s a great relief when you get into bed after doing it. You know it’s a couple of weeks before you actually have to do it again.”

The 65 members have to do, on average, one night patrol every six weeks around an area with a 12-mile radius. Many members have to drop out due to work and family commitments but replacements are coming from the vast concrete estates springing up on the outskirts of Sixmilebridge. The easy access to Shannon and Limerick means the population has shot up from 2,500 in 1996 to around 4,000.

Most of the members have the benefit of local knowledge but some false alarms are inevitable.

“We had two members one night who observed a man pulling up on the side of the road and he was in and out of a house with a flashlight,” said PJ Ryan. “They thought they were onto somebody who was robbing the house. But in actual fact, he was a local farmer who was observing a cow calving.”

Patrol members have also acted as an unofficial community taxi service for “late night revellers”.

On another night, the two members on patrol - there are always two for safety and for company - spotted two suspicious men in a car near the village square. “There was a stalemate and they were staring at each other for about half an hour,” said Noel O’Carroll. “So eventually they went over and said, ‘Hello, can I help you?’ They said: ‘Yeah, we’re the guards, what are you at?’ It was an unmarked garda car.”

Seven of the 65 Community Alert members are female and the committee ensures that two women do not have to patrol on their own. The system of notifying members of their patrols has changed over the years to improve security. Previously, a public list was posted on the windows of local shops but now members are only given their individual roster.

“Prevention is better than cure, it’s a possibility that the list could get into the wrong hands. We deliver the letters ourselves and you’ll have the dates you’re out on for the next three months,” said Noel O’Carroll.

Sitting around in the local Greyhound Bar, the Community Alert members are convinced their patrols mean the town is no longer a soft touch.

“We liaise very closely with the gardaí and the feedback we get back from them is that Sixmilebridge is a no-go area. We’ve now included Kilmurry as well. If nothing’s happening, the scheme is working,” said Noel O’Carroll.

“The proof of it was that the crime rate dropped in the area,” said PJ Ryan. “Big time,” agrees PJ Gallagher, who has been on the patrols since the beginning.

The patrols of the Community Alert members accounts for more than 3,600 man hours every year. Many would say this is sort of community policing that should be carried out by the gardaí. But the Community Alert members reply to this with the old adage - “the guards can’t be everywhere”.

Garda Stephen Ryan, one of the three members of the Sixmilebridge Garda station, agrees. He believes that public co-operation is essential to solving crime and see the scheme as a good example of this.

“It’s basically people around who are active in the community. It isn’t a kind of macho thing for them, flying around solving all the crime. Generally, crime has been quite low here and they have to take a certain degree of credit for that,” he said.

In recent episodes of RTÉ’s Fair City, Charlie Kelly (a curmudgeonly older man played by actor Tom Jordan) set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme but only in the face of considerable local scepticism. However, the Sixmilebridge people are convinced the active scheme could work in real Dublin streets and suburbs.

“Everyone has a community residents association and if a few of them came together, there’s no reason why they couldn’t get it up and running,” said Noel O’Carroll. “It just takes a bit of time and dedication.”