The Garda Unit, which has been pivotal in reducing certain types of crime in the Swords area, is to be reformed next month.
The unit was stood down over the summer months because of reduced Garda numbers but will operate again from November 6th.
The Community Response Unit is a small unit of up to four gardaí who had been tasked with targetting certain issues as they arise, such as burglaries, scrambler use, and anti-social behaviour.
The unit had been effective with burglary rates in Swords over the last 12 months returning to Covid levels.
A question mark was over the future of the unit, with pressure on garda numbers as well as the possiblity of gardaí returning to the old roster.
The pre-covid roster would have made it impossible to have the unit in Swords and have functioning regular garda units at the same time but in the last month an agreement to retain the roster for front line gardaí has been achieved.
Cllr Ian Carey said:
“Every public representative is always calling for more resources for the Gardaí, but since becoming Chair of the Fingal Joint Policing Committee I’m far more interested in initiatives that can reduce crime levels with the resources we already have.
“What was happening in Swords was exactly that. A few gardaí being used in a very targetted way as part of the Community Response Unit and getting good results. It would have been a major disservice to the people of Swords to allow this initiative to fall by the way side.
“I was very keen to advocate for the return of the unit with Senior Gardaí in recent months and I’m glad we will now see the unit back up and running in the near future.
“I also want to thank the Gardaí in Swords for really pushing this forward. It’s great to have a team that are really committed to delivering the best level of policing they can for the community.”
IMAGE: Gardaí in Swords Castle commemorating 100 years of service in Swords. Photo taken last year. Source: AGS
