'Covert' Garda operation targets burglars
Kilcullen has been among the locations of a number of covert operations being carried out by An Garda targeting burglars, writes Brian Byrne.
Sgt McMahon said 'Operation Fiachra' had been 'very successful' over the last couple of months, but he was quite prepared on the night to listen to any complaints from local people about policing operations.
He said that 'ideally' he would like to see more gardai attached to Kilcullen, but the reality is that the staffing level is now 50 percent down on what it was 10 years ago.
"Kilcullen is now in a different district, and we have a new rostering system which has gardai doing 10-hour shifts instead of 8-hour," he added. "This has been in operation for the last two months, and effectively it means that we have gardai working more at night than in the day."
He said it was too early to see how the new system was working, although he believed it will 'prove to be effective'.
Sgt McMahon noted that his job was to carry out security surveys of business premises and homes, and if anybody has 'worries' in this regard, he's available to come along and help. "And at times when Kilcullen station is open, they can talk to Gda Joanne O'Sullivan," he concluded.
The Open Evening was organised under the auspices of Kilcullen 2017, the implementation group for the Development Plan which came out of the Community Survey commissioned last year by Kilcullen Community Action.
