32 new Gardaí to be designated to Waterford city high-visibility patrol
Chief Superintendent Anthony Pettit outside Waterford Garda Station. Photo: Garda Press Office
Waterford saw the roll-out of An Garda Síochána’s High Visibility Policing Plan, often referred to as High Visibility Beats, this week.
Speaking at a recent Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership meeting, Chief Superintendent Anthony Pettit detailed the initiative, announcing that along with the 25 new Gardaí recently allocated to Waterford city, an additional seven gardaí will be transferring to the city as part of the "largest allocation of Gardaí in any single tranche ever to Waterford".
This means a total of 32 new gardaí have been "designated to Waterford city for this initiative", which will focus on increasing garda presence and visibility in the city centre over six dedicated beats.
The beats he laid out covered Waterford City's busiest spots, from the Clock Tower along the Quay to Parnell Street, The Mall, John Street and Michael Street, People's Park and the retail centre of the city covering City Square Shopping Centre, Broad Street and George's Street.
"So it will provide significant visibility right across the city centre," he said, as part of a uniformed foot-patrol initiative designed to combat street crime, anti-social behaviour, and public order issues.
It will also give gardaí in Waterford an additional capability to answer calls associated with the night-time economy, the likes of the anti-social behaviour calls and thefts, Superintendent Pettit said.
"In addition, while focused on Waterford city centre, I believe the fact that we're allocating additional members to deal solely and dedicated to the Waterford city centre will allow some of our already existing Gardaí to spend more time out in communities, out in the estates, or indeed dealing with calls.
"We do hope to maybe increase the initial drive across the division, so there is an application in for Kilkenny, and certainly as time goes on, we will hope to get additional numbers into Dungarvan, Tramore, and indeed some of the other rural areas."
Garda Superintendent Gavin Hegarty confirmed at the meeting that the roll out of the High-Visibility Beats initiative would aid Gardaí in dealing with instances of anti-social behaviour in areas, which have seen an increase in such activity, like Spring Garden Alley.
At the meeting, Cllr Joanne Bailey asked for an update on the issues residents have raised in the area over recent months, for which she was told the Gardaí crime prevention unit and residents in the area have been in touch with one another and a residents association will be set up to help with future engagements with gardaí, who have increased their visibility in the area.
