Former Garda Superintendent Backs ASBOs To Tackle Anti Social Behaviour

A retired Garda says the force in Wexford doesn't have the resources to tackle anti social behaviour in the town.

Retailers and homeowners have come together to call for more action on gangs of young people running around and terrorising the area.

The Wexford Retail Crime Prevention Forum wants to see more Gardai on the streets to discourage this kind of behaviour.

However, former Superintendent Denis Whelan says the numbers just aren't there right now:

"We're being told that we're taking in so many Guards but it's not enough and we're not meeting the demand because Garda numbers are going down rather than up.

"I've sat the superintendent's chair and Jarlath Duffy and Derek Hughes, who are two very good officers who know what they're doing, but they're not getting the Guards from headquarters because headquarters aren't getting the new recruits in.

"They don't have the Guards to fill up the drugs unit or enhance community policing and they're trying to police the town with one hand behind their back.

"They're doing their best but they're too stretched."

Concerns have been repeatedly raised around the number of vape shops in the town and the gatherings of young people around them.

Mr Whelan says he would like to see them closed as they add nothing to the area except trouble.

"You can see why kids are getting attracted in there. There's one shop has been raided four or five times by the Guards and one of the people is before the courts in relation to selling illegal substances.

"Earlier this month there was thousands of euros worth of of suspected illegal controlled drugs seized from that shop.

"Close it down, zero tolerance because they're just causing far more havoc than the benefits of it."

One way Mr Whelan suggests we could tackle the scourge of anti social behaviour is to introduce more ASBOs for young people.

An anti-social behaviour order is a court order against a person who has been shown to behave in an anti-social manner.

It also bans the person from doing anything specified in the order.

Mr Whelan says using this mechanism could achieve results.

"Included in that you could say 'right stay out of the town' or 'you've to stop behaving in the way you're behaving or else you'll go to court.

"ASBOs do work but we're probably not using them enough."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.