Vol. 422 No. 1
60 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline the numerical strength of the Garda Síochána assigned in the Dublin metropolitan area for neighbourhood watch schemes and community relations; if he will give details of the success of the neighbourhood watch schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that in the Dublin metropolitan area there are currently 161 members of the force assigned to community policing duties which include liaison with representatives of neighbourhood watch schemes. In addition to this there are 23 members of the force assigned to the community relations section in Harcourt Square which is responsible nationally for the implementation of the juvenile liaison officer scheme, overseeing neighbourhood watch and community alert schemes, development of the schools programme, community/neighbourhood policing and crime prevention initiatives.
There is a growing awareness by the public of the part which they can play in crime prevention, a development which I very much welcome. The community policing schemes have put the members of the force in closer touch with the communities they serve and the neighbourhood watch schemes play an important role in the fight against crime by involving the community in crime prevention.
The success of programmes such as neighbourhood watch can be gauged in terms of the continuous support and enthusiastic involvement by the community in them. The number of neighbourhood watch schemes has grown from 75 in 1985 when the scheme was first introduced to a present figure of 1,340 schemes involving 242,412 households throughout the country. In the Dublin metropolitan area there are currently 818 schemes in operation involving 192,201 households. I look forward to the further development of such community involvement in crime prevention.
