One of the more interesting shifts in policing in the Youghal area in recent times has been the appointment of a Community Garda. The concept represents more or less a modern version of the past, when garda patrols relied less on petrol and more on visibility and accessibility for power. In fact today’s version could largely –and literally- be termed a ‘recycling’ venture, with advanced bicycle technology very much the vehicle of purpose for the garda on the beat.
Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com Email: news@youghalonline.com

Garda Peter Queally is now two months into his appointment as Youghal’s inaugural Community Garda. He is the eldest of six children from a farming family reared at Carroll’s Cross, near Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford. He attended Newtown national school and then St. Augustine’s secondary in Dungarvan.

Now 39, Peter’s garda career began at Templemore in 1993, followed by four months in Ballyconnell and three and a half years in Pearse Street, Dublin. In 1998 he was posted to Watercourse Road in Cork’s Blackpool district and a year later came to Youghal.

Sportsman

Peter Queally’s name preceded him to Youghal and indeed Cork. He played senior hurling for Waterford for over ten years up to 2003, winning a Munster final in 2002. His club hurling career saw him line out with Ballydurn-Newtown (still does on occasion) as well as stints with Sarsfields in Glanmire. He was also a skilful footballer with Ballydurn-Newtown and was part of the Waterford side that bridged a 51year gap (there’s always a big gap between Waterford’s titles!) to claim a second Junior Munster title, in 1999.

Equally adept at showing others how it is done, he has trained the Waterford senior footballers and his county’s minor hurlers as well as Dungarvan’s hurlers at their former Intermediate level. He has also led Ballygunner to a senior county hurling final. In 2008, he was a selector for the Waterford side that reached that county’s first All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final since 1963. Let’s not mention the match for fear of being arrested, except to say Kilkenny managed to win. By half time that is! He currently trains the Youghal Intermediate hurlers. On days off he regularly tutors Newtown children in hurling skills.

The job

So much for the jersey; now for the uniform: Peter drives to work from the home near Kilmeaden that he shares with wife Ciara and sons Richie, 5 and Dara, five months. Thereafter much of his day may be spent on two wheels, much to his enjoyment. “Being from the country, I prefer being outdoors anyway and I like meeting people,” he insists. “But moreso I applied for this job because of the sort of initiative it demands and I like that.”

Having experienced six months of community policing back in Watercourse Road, his bike journeys now take him geographically “from Youghal bridge as far as Burgess Cross” but strategically to different word. “It’s a totally different environment here obviously and I must say there’s a lot more work to do than I expected,” he says. “But I’m doing various courses as well as learning on the job and its all very positive,’ he smiles.

Agreeable as it is, he doesn’t for a moment view community policing as a PR exercise. “I see it as preventative policing in terms of criminality,” he muses. “I mean a traffic corp garda for example issues tickets, conducts breathe tests, and so on to combat crime whereas a community garda tackles it by trying to build a relationship with local people. You hope to succeed to the point where they would trust you enough even to provide information to help prevent or solve crime.”

His role also places him with a foot in the camps of both perpetrator and victim as, on the one hand, he may be endeavouring to help shopkeepers set up a business watch system against shoplifting while on the other is hopes his involvement with the wider community has enough influence to dissuade or apprehend a potential shoplifter from within.

In the general sense a community’s landscape presents a myriad of challenges, from fear to fury and bullying to barking dogs. Peter’s mantra could well be to ‘meet the people and mend the problem’ and directions across this varied terrain are often provided by the town’s community organisations. He has been busily visiting the various outposts, such as “Foroige and the youth café in Nagle house, the garda Youth Diversion project and a lot of groups attached to Cumann na Daoine.”

The young

Ultimately there are two sectors that predominantly vie for his attention -the old and the young. Youth in particular can be both the exploiter and the exploited. So he visits schools and clubs and spends a lot of time liaising with Foroige. He contributes at the youth café, advises and listens and helps to plan new initiatives towards focusing young minds on the positive side of life. “We’re trying to develop different initiatives there,” he agrees in the calm, soft-spoken manner that seems to define him. Unsurprisingly, he brings a sporting focus to the table and speaks of plans to accommodate fitness training facilities and boxercise at Nagle House base in due course.

Recreation won’t resolve deeper social and personal problems however. The ever-rising tide of devastation wrought by drug and alcohol abuse brings a formidable challenge. To meet it, trust is a vital tool. “I suppose my job would be to provide the best help and advice I can. It does revert back to the outside agencies such as our drug counsellors and so on but I’d hope a youngster would listen to me and trust me in the first place. I’m there to help. ”

He is also there to detect of course and one doesn’t envy his position should the social work and the policing sides of his duties collide, as inevitably they must. As a garda he obviously can’t turn a blind eye to crime but it’s not necessarily a black or white situation. Ultimately, he believes that whatever he does is done “in the best interests of the young person involved.” Trust.

The elderly

At the other end of the age barometer he must consider the jurisdiction’s elderly population. Given the proclivity of attacks on the elderly, aligned with the natural vulnerability of being of advanced age, his role combines crime prevention with general care and consideration. It all culminates in frequent visits to older citizens, whether in town or in rural isolation, but particularly those living alone or otherwise particularly vulnerable.

This has proved to be surprisingly problematic in that there seems to be no readymade database of elderly residents and in being. Exacerbating the difficulty has been the Privacy legislation, whereby community organisations are forbidden in normal circumstances to supply personal information on private individuals to third parties, even to gardai.

Names needed

Peter has managed to compile a sizeable list of names and details from voluntary disclosures, in part through contact with organisations to Cumann na Daoine and other institutions. There are many individuals absent from his compilation however and he is very keen to have them included. “I’d greatly appreciate anyone who can provide details of an elderly person who may benefit from a visit,” he asks.

In the main he has found that elderly people, especially those living alone, greatly appreciate a chat and some company. “They find it reassuring to know someone knows they are there and of course it lifts their loneliness a lot too,” he reports.

Equally important, such visits enable him to assess the needs of his hosts, from basic requirements such as grass cutting, fuel provision, to servicing door locks and general home security. He can then inform the relative providers but much of what is needed would be well addressed through voluntary effort. “I’d like to establish a network whereby volunteers could be assigned to certain areas and just be undertake regular monitoring and even short visits to the elderly,” he states. “Recently at a Community Alert meeting we had one man offer to help in this way and if we had some more it would go a long way towards bringing peace of mind and a sense of security to elderly people,” he adds.

Meanwhile the ex-hurler tirelessly evolves his game plan. This time, there are no crowds gathered to witness his efforts but, as is often true of life, the lesser observed brings the greater effect. We can all feel cheered by his achievements.

Anyone wishing to contribute in any respect to Peter Queally’s role as community garda can contact him -in strictest confidence- through Youghal garda station on (024) 92200. “If I’m not there, leave a message and I guarantee to get back to you,” he assures.

COMMUNITY POLICING

The Community Garda has been a fixture in many of our major urban centres for over two decades, with the powers that be only now sending it on the crime trail to rural Ireland. The pity is that its value was not recognised and deployed earlier but better restored late than never.

An Garda Siochana initiated Community Policing as we are getting to know it, in November 1987. According to the national Crime Council’s website, the programme renders a uniformed garda responsible for policing a specific area, in which in he or she makes strives build up a constructive relationship with the locals.

Community Policing, says the Council, has three specific aims:

1. To provide locals with their own Garda, with whom they can discuss everyday occurrences within the area and build up a strong and supportive personal relationship;

2. To help locals prevent crime by supporting their efforts to promote Neighbourhood Watch, Community Alert and other crime prevention initiatives;

3. To work with other social agencies in the area to help curb crime and vandalism.

As of March 2008 there were 674 gardai specifically assigned to community policing, representing almost five percent of the force’s total strength. The site reminds us nonetheless that, all Gardaí have a role to play in addressing community policing issues. “Community policing is a fundamental policing philosophy that is not confined to a single unit,” it says.

The newly established statutory Joint Policing Committees (JPCs), by which Garda, council and community representatives meet regularly to discuss their crime and social issues in their locality is another branch of the modern Community Policing initiative, but that is a story -or stories- for another nervous day!