Posted online: Apr 25th, 2008

By Elaine McFadden
elaine@letterkennypost.com
Sinn Féin Community Safety Campaign is demanding safer communities in Donegal and throughout the country by getting more Gardaí on the beat and more communication between the people and the law enforcers.
Local Letterkenny Councillor Gerry McMonagle, along with his party colleague’s Cllr Tony McDaid and Cllr Marie Therese Gallagher launched the party’s Policing with the Community in 2008 document which looks at Sinn Féin’s submissions to the Garda Policing Plan for 2008 and asks for a greater working relationship between the community and the Gardaí, along with five demand for tackling domestic violence.
“We really welcome the fact that this year, the Garda Policing Plan asked for submissions from the public and we are delighted that some of Sinn Féin’s proposals have been included on the plan,” Cllr McMonagle said.
“We are recommending an equal partner approach between the community and the Gardaí to solve problems more effectively and in a more structured way. Gardaí must be visible where they are needed most.
We recognise the difficult job that Gardaí have but we need to take the fully trained Gardaí who are sitting behind desks and put them on the streets,” he continued.
Cllr McMonagle went on to say that as a result of the work of the Joint Policing Committee in Letterkenny, of which he is Vice Chairman, and their public consultation meeting in the town last November, there will now be a full roll out of JPC’s in all over Ireland come June.
“We were the first Joint Policing Committee to go out into the public and next year we will be working more towards focusing on the Policing Plan,” he commented.
Sinn Féin’s information cards on building safer communities and tackling domestic violence will be distributed around local service centres and other public places in the coming weeks and include numbers of helplines, as well as an outline of their five demands.
These include, taking Gardaí out from behind desks and putting them into the fight against crime, ensuring a more visible presense of Gardaí in the community on foot and on bicycle and ensuring that Gardaí engage positively and respectfully with the community.