Extra gardaí are to be on duty in Portarlington due to concerns over people who have moved there, Chief Superintendent John Scanlon said this week.
“Portarlington is going to see an increase in numbers, it is an area I am concerned about,” he told the County Laois Joint Policing Committee meeting.
“A lot of people have moved there from outside the area who would have had a colourful past,” Mr Scanlon said.
“They have changed the social balance of the area,” he said.
“We will meet the challenge. We are putting in more gardaí,” he said.
The news of the extra garda presence was welcomed by Cllr Tom Mulhall. “There is a huge population there, there is upto 12,000 people in the wider area,” he said.
“I would like to see the garda station open for longer hours. I would like to see the doors open for longer,” he said.
However, Chief Supt. Scanlon said a garda station remaining open for longer hours does not always represent the best use of resources.
“There is a message out there that we need to see garda station doors open,” he said.
Waste
“If a station is open an nobody comes in during that time, it is a bit of a waste. The best use of resources is it is closed and the time it is open people come in to get their forms signed,” he said.
“If something happens at 4am, people ring in about it,” he said.
It was a better use of resources to have gardai out in the community rather than in a garda station, when no-one comes in the door.
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