Peter Hughes
The members of Co Monaghan Joint Policing Committee will avail of a meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in February to lobby for more resources to be provided to the Gardaí in the county. The recent meeting of the JPC heard that the Gardaí could be facing a significant shortage in transport resources by the end of the year. Referring to crime figures presented by the Gardaí to the meeting, JPC community representative Alan Johnston, who is Chairman of the Monaghan Town Team business promotion group, remarked on what appeared to be a 300% rise in burglary incidents, which he described as “quite stark”.
He asked if this figure was because of increased detection rates. Garda Chief Superintendent John O’Reilly said the figures referred to incidents that had taken place. The Gardaí were aware that there was a cross- Border gang heavily involved in burglaries in the North Monaghan and Carrickmacross districts, and this gang were also fleecing South Armagh…
