Garda will not use CCTV to ‘snoop’

THE garda in charge of the southside of Limerick has said the force has no interest or desire to continually “snoop” on communities via CCTV.

Superintendent Frank O’Brien made the comments yesterday as he defended the fact that new systems recently installed in two suburbs are not the subject of ongoing Garda monitoring. However, he said he would like to see the new systems in Southill and Ballinacurra Weston monitored by teams drawn from the communities.

There has been political criticism that the CCTV systems installed in Southill and Ballinacurra Weston are not connected to a control room in Henry Street Garda headquarters. Gardaí in the control room view ongoing live footage fed onto screens from cameras which cover all the city centre, 24/7.