No let up in gangland crime battle
Pointing to a worrying trend which sees young gangsters settling scores and drug debts down the barrel of a gun, Commissioner Fachtna Murphy assured the public that while gardaí were adjusting to budget cutbacks, his officers continued to target “hotspots” such as Limerick and Finglas.
He added that new and unpublished figures would reveal a slight increase in headline or serious crimes for the first half of the year.
The figures would show homicides were down overall, but that firearms were used in 21 of the 51 murders.
Appearing at an Oireachtas Committee on Justice, the commissioner said gardaí were intercepting criminals and disrupting their activities every day.
He added: “We are dealing with people — sometimes quite young people — who have a reckless disregard for human life and who, with cynical ease, resort to extreme violence and seek to settle scores, recover drug debts and claim territory down the barrel of a gun.”
The chief Garda said he was pleased with the amount of justice legislation being introduced, particularly laws on surveillance of criminals.
Garda overtime had been cut by €27 million to €80m this year, the committee heard. Funds were being prioritised and he was cutting “out the unnecessary fat”.
Some 2,693 civilians work with the force, but because of cutbacks there were no plans to recruit more, TDs were told.
The new Garda digital communications system will not be fully rolled out until 2011. The system will only operate in parts of Dublin over the next few months.
Fine Gael’s Denis Naughten said it was unacceptable that Garda communications were operating “in the dark ages”.
The committee was told antisocial behaviour orders, or ASBOs, had been handed out by the courts to two adults and two children so far since being introduced in early 2007.
Another 947 warnings had been given to adults and 604 to children.
Commissioner Murphy emphasised the role of community policing gardaí, saying he wanted to boost their numbers from 700 to 1,200.
He also revealed yesterday that the long-awaited contract on speed cameras is expected to be signed by the end of this month.
The network of fixed and mobile cameras may detect 500,000 speeding offences per annum.
