Residents “sick and tired” of juvenile attacks following a lack of investment in community CCTV surveillance schemes
By Cathy Lee
Newsgroup reported in January concerns raised about the fact that only one quarter of the total funding available for the installation of CCTV systems aimed to deter crime in local communities had been used to date. One reader, Andrew* from Cushlawn, Tallaght said that his area must be made a priority, as he feels CCTV may be the only option left to reduce crime in the locality. A long term resident of Cushlawn, Andrew has been attacked violently by youths three times in the last two years, while his partner has received regular threats. Although this issue has been ongoing, Andrew said that things are “definitely getting worse and I’m sick and tired of it”. Andrew added that he doesn’t know “what to do or where to turn” as he explained that he wants to protect himself and defend his family but he cannot afford to install a CCTV system himself.
Although Andrew has reported incidents and called the local Gardaí to his house on occasion, he said that “When you say that they’re outside causing the trouble and ask them to call up, they come up two or three hours later when the trouble is all finished”. Andrew was told that Gardaí don’t have the manpower and were unable to act as they hadn’t seen the attacks taking place themselves. Andrew said that he has seen changes in the community in his lifetime but regularly elderly people like his parents and neighbours are having their houses vandalised by juveniles. “It’s getting to a point where I’m thinking about going further with this”, he said adding that people are aggravated, and he feels it could “go back to the old days, where people are going to take the law into their own hands and be vigilantes”.
*In the interest of safety, names have been changed to protect the identity of this resident.
