CRIME: Nenagh's new garda chief pledges a 24/7 presence in major towns

“We will have a garda presence in Roscrea 24/7. That is something I am very firm on. We have to. That is a minimum requirement,” according to new Nenagh Garda District Superintendent Ollie Baker.

“There’s a big population over there. They’re on the periphery of the District, but that doesn’t mean they are not deserving of the same response to a call they place in,” he says in an interview with the Tipperary Star.

Supt Baker points out that the phone might ring in Nenagh, but the response will be from Roscrea. And it is the same with Newport and Nenagh and rural areas.

He is adamant that “if we are going to talk about reassuring the public we have to respond, we can’t be called out on that”.

Supt Baker was responding to questions about people in Roscrea feeling let down by finding the door to its Garda Station closed at certain times.

However, he responds that there are different methods of initial contacts, pointing out that under the new garda dispatch and call answering service throughout Munster, when the phone rings it is being answered in Cork.

“It takes the same amount of time if that phone was answered in Roscrea for that garda car to hear that message,” he says.

“We will be able to improve our response time as a result. That is a better situation than, in the middle of the night, having a garda perched inside behind a door.”

Supt Baker says that they are not going back to having a guard in every station but there will be a garda response in every town.

“Ultimately what we concern ourselves with is our response time and how quick we can be there to help people,” he says.

However, the general public will still be able to call to the station during the daytime.

“I am looking at always having somebody in the stations in Roscrea and Newport. We will be able to take callers from the general public into those stations, which means you can get a better sense of their needs. We will be able to proactively involve ourselves with issues at play. You develop a relationship and trust through that,” he says.

However, Supt Baker says the gardaí are not going to abandon the community policing model built up over the past 100 years.

And allaying fears over the amalgamation of the Tipperary and Clare Garda Divisions, Supt Baker says he is “as committed to the people of Borrisokane, Roscrea, Newport as I am to the people of Nenagh, in the same way as the Chief Superintendent is committed to all the people of Tipperary and Clare. I’ll make sure that all the resources are in place to make sure no one is being left behind.”

Read the full interview in this week's Tipperary Star.