Pilot project bids to tackle antisocial behaviour

A SIGNIFICANT step to tackling antisocial behaviour in Limerick is being launched today.

Based on an existing scheme, operated in parts of Britain, Limerick will be the pilot project in this country.

The initiative involves a group of nine community coordinators taking to the streets with the task ofencouraging wayward young people to give up behaving badly.

The plan is a joint effort between gardaí, Limerick City Council and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Department of the Environment has given €1 million to finance the scheme’s two-year trial.

The Limerick scheme is modelled on a project in Manchester and Stockport.

The nine coordinators, seven of whom are women, will initially concentrate on areas which have medium levels of antisocial behaviour rather than in the more troubled black spots.

A spokesman for Limerick City Council said: “The principal objective will be to tackle antisocial behaviour by interacting with young people and where necessary to link them up with various agencies who may be able to give advice and assistance to keep them away from crime.”

The coordinators, who have undertaken third-level courses, have also completed a three-week intensive training programme. They will wear casual, but distinctive uniforms while working.

The scheme will be managed by the city’s Community Safety Partnership, a new body whose three directors are city manager Tom Mackey, Chief Supt Willie Keane and John Hennessy, area manager Mid West of the HSE.

A spokesman for the partnership said: “We were pleasantly surprised at the age profile and the qualifications of the people who came forward to work as community coordinators.”

The coordinators will be equipped with two-way radios and will work in pairs. While they will communicate with the gardaí, the coordinators will not engage in work normally the remit of the gardaí.

“It will be a softly, softly, approach and the coordinators will engage as friends of the community. How it develops will depend to a large degree on the coordinators themselves and how they interact with the communities,” said the spokesman.