Community crime prevention programmes

Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch is a crime prevention and community safety programme for urban areas. It operates as a partnership between An Garda Síochána and members of the public. The programme is based on the principle that everyone in the community can play a role in improving the quality of life in their area by looking out for their neighbours and reporting suspicious or unusual activity to An Garda Síochána.

The main aims of Neighbourhood Watch programmes are to improve community safety, prevent crime, strengthen links between An Garda Síochána and the Community, increase public confidence in the Gardaí, develop a caring environment for older & vulnerable people and help reduce anti-social behaviour.

To set up a scheme in your area, contact your local Garda Station or by contacting your local Community Policing Office. Find your Local Community Policing Gardaí here and using the interactive map to find your local office.

Community Alert

Community Alert is a community safety programme designed primarily for rural areas, with a particular emphasis on supporting older and vulnerable people. It operates through a partnership between the community, An Garda Síochána and Muintir na Tíre. The programme is based on the principle of shared responsibility for crime prevention and reduction. Community Alert groups work to strengthen community development, reduce opportunities for crimes, encourage the reporting of suspicious activity and develop initiatives that improve the quality of life for everyone living in rural communities.

To set up a group in your area, please contact your local Garda Station here or contact Muintir na Tíre by telephone 062-51163 or by viewing the list of their Community Development Officers from their website.

Coastal Watch

Report unusual activity that may help prevent or detect a crime here.

Coastal Watch is a community-based crime prevention initiative involving residents, businesses, landowners, government agencies, voluntary emergency services, and An Garda Síochána. Its purpose is to raise awareness and encourage those who live, work, or use the coast to help prevent and detect crime.

Objectives

 Coastal Watch aims to:

• Improve safety and security for coastal communities and users
• Deter and detect illegal or suspicious activity along the coastline
• Provide crime prevention advice for local residents, businesses and visitors
• Strengthen cooperation between communities, An Garda Síochána, Revenue, local authorities, and emergency services

Coastal Watch aims to highlight the reporting of unusual activity that may help prevent or detect a crime, such as:

• Unexplained movements at night by individuals or vehicles on land or sea
• Unknown boats landing in remote locations
• Ribs/ boats with names removed or concealed
• Ships away from their normal shipping lanes
• Unusual objects at sea or ashore
• Persons moving large quantity of diesel
• Persons booking short-term accommodation at late notice and paying in cash
• Persons arriving in an area with a large amount of recently purchased sea worthy outdoor clothing
• Persons acting unusually
• unexpected tyre tracks on laneway
• vehicles parked in unusual places
• Intentionally destroyed vehicles
• Illegal dumping
• Illegal fishing
• Illegal salvage
• Misuse of safety equipment
• Property damage, arson or vandalism
• Wildlife crime

In case of emergencies call: 

• Emergency Number 999 / 112
• Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111

Text Alert

Text Alert enables communities to establish groups that receive alerts about suspicious or criminal activity occurring in their area. The service helps to increase awareness among community members and can encourage them to report suspicious activity to An Garda Síochána. Using text messages allows information to be disseminated quickly and efficiently to a large number of people in a cost-effective manner. Text Alert operates as a one-way communication system and is based on the following principles:

• Reporting an incident: Members of the public report an incident to their designated Garda Community Engagement Area (contact details can be found at www.garda.ie).
• Verification: The reporting Garda receiving the report verifies details and determines that the Text Alert system should be used.
• Issuing the alert: The Garda sends the text alert message (or e-mail) to each registered Community Contact in their relevant Garda Community Engagement Area
• Dissemination: Each Community Contact forwards the message to their Community Group, advising them to be vigilant and report any further developments to An Garda Síochána.
• Email Alerts: Where information is received by e-mail, the Community Contact may forward the e-mail or convert the relevant information into an SMS Text and send to the members of their Community Group.

Campus Watch

Campus Watch is a crime prevention and community safety programme similar to a residential Neighbourhood Watch scheme. It operates as a partnership between An Garda Síochána and the members of the campus community. The programme is based on the principle that everyone on campus can contribute to improving the safety and quality of life by looking out for students, staff and visitors. This can be achieved by remaining vigilant and reporting suspicious activity to An Garda Síochána. 

Campus sites are busy places with large numbers of people carrying out their daily routines. They bring together a diverse range of people, including campus staff, workers, visitors and students.  The nature of a campus, where unfamiliar faces are common and generally accepted, can provide opportunities for criminals to blend into the surroundings, particularly around halls of residence. For example, it is not unusual to see people carrying backpacks, bags and other items which may not attract attention.

For students, replacing expensive items can be difficult. It is therefore important to consider simple and effective measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of theft. There are a number of practical steps that students can take to reduce their chances of becoming victims of crime.

View the Campus Watch booklet here.