A plan to beef up the visibility of gardai in rural areas that was trialled in the Belmullet area is being currently rolled out across the county. Chief Superintendent Pat Diskin told the members of Mayo County Council this week about the project that was first carried out in the Belmullet area and how it would now be spread out across the county.
Chief Supt Diskin told the elected members that rural beats and small area policing is something they are working on.
“In the Belmullet garda district we decided that we wanted to create more visibility in the rural areas. Supt Tony Healy came up with a plan to increase visibility in the rural areas in particular and divided his district into 18 sections and appointed a garda and sargeant with responsabilty for a particular section.
|”The gardai would drive out in their patrol cars, park up in the most rural areas you could possibly go to and they walk for some distance calling into the houses there and introduce themselves and ask about any issues they should be aware of and if they can help in anyway.
“The last rural beat I went down to was a place just outside of Carrowteige. We want to show the local people that we’re not just providing beats and patrols in urban areas, we’re also there for rural areas.
“We’re trying to extend that right across the division at the moment and Supt Healy has been tasked him with planning and bringing that across the division, we’re already in progress with it,” concluded Chief Supt Diskin.
