To the Lord Mayor andReport No. 62/2012

Members of Dublin City CouncilReport of the Chairperson of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee

Annual Report of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee on the performance of its functions during 2011

In 2006, Dublin City Council established a Joint Policing Committee and 5 Sub Committees corresponding to its 5 area committees in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law reform and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Under paragraph 14.1 of those guidelines the Joint Policing Committee is required, not later than three months after the end of the year, to submit a report to the City Council, on the performance of its function during the preceding year.

Accordingly I wish to report as follows:

Report of Dublin City Joint Policing Committee

ITEM 1

PRIORITY ISSUE / ACTIONS TAKEN IN RELATION TO EACH PRIORITY ISSUE / PERSONS RESPONSIBLE
(for JPC or JPC subcommittee) / TIMESCALE FOR ACTION / SUMMARISE PROGRESS ACHIEVED
1. Community Courts & Restorative Justice / Included on Work Plan 2011/2012 / Dublin City Council / Ongoing / 1. Presentation given
2. Minister contacted requesting
2. Chair to attend Washington Conference in 2012
2. Dublin City Local Business Policing Forum / Reports / Lord Mayor’s Office / Ongoing / Updates provided
3. Funding of Local Policing Fora / Reports & correspondence from DECLG circulated / Dublin City Council / 1 month / Updates provided to March, MayDecember meetings. Correspondence from Dept. DECLG circulated in January 2011
4. Lord Mayor’s Commission on Antisocial Behaviour / Established by Lord Mayor / Lord Mayor’s Office / 2011-2012 / Updates provided to each meeting from October 2011
5. Garda reports / Report to each meeting / An Garda Síochána / Ongoing / Reports provided to each JPC meeting
6. Garda Visibility on the streets / Included on Work Plan / An Garda Síochána / 2 months / Item included on Work Plan 2011/2012 & discussed at December meeting
7. Victims of Crime / Presentation given / Crime Victims Helpline / 2 months / Presentation given by Crime Victims Helpline to December meeting
8. Racism / Presentation given & report provided / ENAR Ireland &
An Garda Síochána / 2 months / 1. Presentation by ENAR (European Network Against Racism) Ireland
2. Update provided in Garda Report.
9. Halloween / Report provided to members / Dublin City Council & An Garda Síochána / 1 month / Correspondence on Halloween arrangements circulated to membersat October meeting
10. Casual Trading / Updates provided on progress in drafting new bye-laws / Dublin City Council & Arts, Culture, Leisure & Youth Affairs Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) / Ongoing / Bye-laws due to be brought to March 2012 City Council meeting for formal adoption
11. Cycling in the City / Cycling Officer contacted / Dublin City Council & An Garda Síochána / 1 month / Presentation by City Council Cycling Officer to January 2011 meeting

ITEM 2

The advice/recommendations provided by the JPC to the local authority and the Gardaí during the year.

  1. In relation to each priority issue, what advice did the JPC give to either the local authority or the Gardaí? Please identify specific recommendations made on relevant issues (see paragraph 2.8 of the code of practice in the guidelines).

1.Community Courts & Restorative Justice

  • Committee requested that a presentation be made to future meeting and that the Minister being contacted to consider the establishment of a Community Court for Dublin

2.Dublin City Local Business Policing Forum

  • Committee requested update on this forum established by the Lord Mayor in September 2010.

3.Local Policing Fora

  • Committee requested reports on the operating of Local Policing Fora operating in DCC’s administrative area.

4.Lord Mayor’s Commission on Antisocial Behaviour

  • Committee requested updates on this Commission established by the Lord to address the effects of anti-social behaviour on the lives of communities.

5.Garda Reports

  • Provided to each meeting

6.Garda Visibility on the streets

  • Committee requested that this be included as an item on the JPC Work Plan 2011/2012

7.Victims of Crime

  • Victims of Crime Helpline requested that they be facilitate din making a presentation to the JPC.

8.Racism

  • Committee requested information on racially motivated attacks.

9.Halloween

  • Information on arrangements in place for Halloween requested.

10.Casual Trading

  • Update requested on progress in drafting new bye-laws

11.Cycling in the City

  • Report requested by Committee
  1. What resulted from the advice and recommendations set out at 2.1 above? Please outline any feedback received from the local authority or the Gardaí.

1.Community Courts & Restorative Justice

  • Presentation made by Tom Coffey, Chairperson, Dublin City Business Association (DCBA) to December 5th meeting
  • Manager wrote to Minister for Justice in December 2011 requesting that his Department take steps to establish a Community Court in the Dublin Central Business District
  • It is intended to pursue this matter in 2012 with the Department of Justice and the new CEO of the Prison Service, who has publicly declared an interest in looking at alternative strategies to incarceration of prisoners in a bid to reduce the number of inmates in the country’s jails.

2.Dublin City Local Business Policing Forum

  • Update provided to January meeting

3.Local Policing Fora

  • Correspondence from Department of Environment in relation to funding for Policing Fora circulated to members at January 2011 meeting.
  • Reports from Policing Fora operating in DCC’s administrative areas circulated to members at March, May & December meetings.

4.Lord Mayor’s Commission on Antisocial Behaviour

  • Updates were provided to the October and December meetings

5.Garda Reports

  • These dealt with various queries raised by members at meetings, discussed Dublin Regional Policing Plan, Problem Oriented Policing, policing of Halloween, legislation, proposed closures of Garda Stations and provided statistics on crime (burglaries, assaults etc.), traffic (road deaths etc.) and information from the Garda Racial and Diversity Office.

6.Garda Visibility on the streets

  • Incorporated into JPC Work Plan 2011/2012
  • Assistant Commissioner discussed at December meeting

7.Victims of Crime

  • Presentation made by Crime Victims Helpline to December meeting with the objective of raising awareness of this freephone service.

8.Racism

  • Manager liaised with DCC’s Integration Office and arranged for ENAR (European Network Against Racism) Ireland to make a presentation to May meeting
  • Update also provided in Garda Report from the Garda Racial and Diversity Office.

9.Halloween

  • A report from the Environment & Engineering Department was circulated to members at October meeting
  • A subsequent update on the event was provided at the December meeting

10.Casual Trading

  • Report on Casual Trading Draft bye laws provided to July meeting

11.Cycling in the City

  • Presentation given by Dublin City Council’s Cycling Officer to January meeting. This was followed by a questions and answers session. Gardaí confirmed that offenders are cautioned and brought before the courts.

ITEM 3

Public meetings hosted by the JPC during the year.

There were no Public Meetings hosted by the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) during 2011.

ITEM 4

Record of meetings held in 2011 and list of members.

Please enter the total number of JPC meetings held in the year6

Date of each meeting

24th March / 7th March / 30th May
25th July / 3rd October / 5th December

Name of Chairperson Councillor Gerry Breen

NAME OF MEMBER / ORGANISATION OF WHICH MEMBER / TITLE / NO OF JPC MEETINGS ATTENDED
Tom Conway / An Garda Síochána / Chief Superintendent / 0
Michael Feehan / An Garda Síochána / Assistant Commissioner / 6
Philip Maguire / Dublin City Council / Assistant City Manager / 5
Gerry Breen / Fine Gael / Councillor / 5
Andrew Montague * / Labour / Lord Mayor (Ex Officio Member) / 1
Larry O’Toole / Sinn Féin / Councillor / 4
Edie Wynne / Fine Gael / Councillor / 4
Mannix Flynn / Independent / Councillor / 5
Marie Metcalfe / Independent / Councillor / 3
John Redmond / Labour / Councillor / 5
Bríd Smith / People Before Profit Alliance / Councillor / 4
Cieran Perry / Independent / Councillor / 2
Tom Brabazon / Fianna Fáil / Councillor / 2
John Gallagher / Labour / Councillor / 4
Michael O’Sullivan *** / Labour / Councillor / 1
Catherine Noone ** / Oireachtas / Senator / 0
Aengus Ó Snódaigh / Oireachtas / Deputy / 3
Maureen O’Sullivan / Oireachtas / Deputy / 4
Catherine Byrne / Oireachtas / Deputy / 2
Michael Conaghan ** / Oireachtas / Deputy / 0
Finian McGrath** / Oireachtas / Deputy / 1
Tom Coffey / Dublin City Business Association (DCBA) / Business Rep. / Chair of(DCBA) / 6
Peter O’Connor / North East Inner City Community Policing Forum (CPF) / Community Rep. / 4
The Venerable David Pierpoint / Archdeacon of Dublin / Community Rep. / 1

*Note that the office of the Lord Mayor rotates in June each year therefore new Lord Mayor would only have been eligible to attend 3 meetings during 2011.

**Oireachtas membership was rotated in July 2011 therefore these members were only eligible to attend meetings from August onwards, of which there were 2.

***This Councillor was co-opted to Dublin City Council on 14th March 2011, rendering him eligible to attend 4 meetings during 2011.

Report of North West Area Joint Policing Subcommittee

Items 1 and 2

No. / Priority Issue / Actions taken in relation to each priority issue / Timescale for Action / Summarise Progress Achieved/
Recommendations Provided
1. / Parks and Open Spaces. /
  1. Plan developed to enhance community enjoyment of parks in Ballymun.
  2. Friends of the Park and Park Watch expanded.
  3. Standing item on area committee and joint policing agenda.
  4. “Give Sport a Go” the first initiative of the Sports Forum, took place on the 25th June in Poppintree Park.
  5. Open spaces inspected regularly by Public Domain Officer.
  6. Johnstown Park Tree Trail opened.
  7. In conjunction with the Parks Dept a cycle route, CCTV and lighting were installed at Tolka Valley Park.
  8. Agreement between DCC/BRL on handover of regeneration sites.
/ Ongoing /
  1. Enhanced links with Gardai through Ballymun CCTV to monitor parks and hotspot areas.
  2. CCTV underway in Tolka Valley Regional Park.
  3. Increased visibility of community gardai.
  4. Reduction in damage to parks at Halloween.

2. / Vacant Sites (Finglas) /
  1. Draft report on the prioritisation of vacant sites suitable for development prepared and sent to Housing & Residential Services Department.
  2. Meetings held with Culture, Recreation and Amenity Department re possibility of developing allotments/community garden initiatives.
  3. Sites regularly inspected for dumping and anti-social uses. Cleaned as required.
/ Ongoing / Agreement reached with developer and Nama to complete unfinished apartment development in Finglas. Vacant site returned to DCC.
3. / Alcohol Consumption. /
  1. Implementation of the Ballymun Community Alcohol Strategy.
  2. An Alcohol Awareness Challenge, hosted by the Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force and Safer Ballymun where residents were challenged to test their knowledge on standard drink sizes and other alcohol-related health facts.
  3. Need for youth education programme re alcohol consumption.
  4. Alcohol home delivery service identified as a problem.
  5. Proliferation of off licences and other premises selling alcohol.
/ Ongoing /
  1. The steering group of the Ballymun Community Alcohol Strategy have commissioned a research project in order to obtain baseline information on behaviours, attitudes, and awareness of residents in relation to alcohol use in the area. This research is being gathered at the outset of the strategy and it will be repeated in the future, to enable an assessment of any changes over time.
  2. Extend Community Alcohol Strategy to Finglas area during 2012.
  3. Planning lists inspected weekly.
  4. Report to Planning Officer on recent permission for change of use.

4. / Youth Service Provision /
  1. Youth Service providers in the area invited to give follow up presentations on issues raised at the January meeting and in particular an opportunity to highlight what funding currently available to them, what cuts they have suffered, where they have made cuts and the resulting impact on services.
  2. Presentation on Juvenile Referral System.
/ 12 months /
  1. It was agreed to produce a report to a future meeting (April 2012) on recommendations in Youth Services.
2. Juvenile Liaison Officer attended meeting 16th January 2012.
5. / Inter agency co-operation required in relation to community screening and a lack of uniformity in the operation of the rent supplement scheme /
  1. The Private Residential Tenancies Board was invited to the April meeting.
  2. Report outlining recommendations for a more joined up approach between HSE, PRTB, Dept of Social Protection and DCC to July meeting.
/ Ongoing /
  1. PRTB attended the April meeting.
  2. Summary report forwarded to the Citywide JPC, Dick Brady (ACM Housing & Residential Services) and Ministers Reilly (Health), Hogan (DOEHLG) and Penrose (Minister of State - DOEHLG). Copies also sent to the PRTB and HSE. Item remains as standing item on NWA JPC agenda.
  3. Tony Flynn (Housing & Residential Services) is representing DCC on the working group responsible for arranging the transfer of the supplementary welfare rent allowance to the local authorities.

6. / Update on CCTV across the North West Area and map of areas covered /
  1. Standing agenda item.
  2. On site visit to CCTV monitoring room in Ballymun arranged July.
  3. Presentation on CCTV to SAFER Ballymun public meeting.
  4. Installation of CCTV at Dunsink Lane – jointly funded by the North West Area Office and Fingal County Council.
  5. Installation of CCTV in Tolka Valley Regional Park underway.
/ Ongoing /
  1. Level of reported crime is falling in the area. The Gardaí are using the system for both surveillance and crime investigation.
  2. There is a noticeable reduction in incidents of anti social behaviour and illegal dumping at Dunsink Lane.
  3. New DCC guidelines for the use of CCTV have been informed by the local experience in Ballymun.

7. / Vacant position of Sports Development Officer (Finglas) / Agreed to raise matter at the May North West Area Committee meeting. / Immediate / Replacement Sports Development Officer started in October 2011.
8. / Non attendance of TDs at Joint Policing sub-Committee meetings. / Letter sent to each of the 3 TDs for the area inviting them to participate more fully in the process. / Immediate / The 3 TDs for the area attended both meetings since invitation extended to them.
9. / Extinguishments of Public Rights of Way / Local reporting arrangement in place between the Gardaí, area committee, safety forum, DCC and residents. / Ongoing / Protocol to be drafted for consideration by the North West Area Committee and the North West Joint Policing sub-Committee regarding extinguishments in order that the extinguishment process does not stall unnecessarily with referral between Area Committee and Joint Policing Committee.
10. / Business Representation /
  1. Committee members to forward names and contact details of businesses that may be interested to M. Geraghty.
  2. Item to be listed for discussion at the April meeting.
/ 12 months
11. / North West Area Joint Policing Steering Committee / Inaugural meeting date set for Friday 17th February. / 1 month / Meeting confirmed. Attendees invited.
12. / Meetings of the local policing fora / To identify funding and engage a co-ordinator for the Finglas Safety Forum. / 12 months /
  1. Co-ordinator appointed March 2011.
  2. Three local fora set up. Meetings well attended by the community.
  3. Finglas Safety Forum website live.

13. / Participate in North South Community Policing Initiative. / Share experience of learning across Ireland. / Ongoing / First training programme completed and second underway.
14. / Hotspots for anti-social behaviour / Local safety fora identify areas with particularly difficult estate management issues. Targeted interventions by Gardaí and City Council with support of local residents. / Ongoing as issues present
15. / Cross boundary issues / As we share a boundary with Fingal County Council issues of a cross boundary nature arise. / Ongoing /
  1. Regular communication between Safety Forum Co-ordinators.
  2. Issue brought from JPC to Fingal/DCC Inter-agency meeting for action.
  3. Garda Chief Superintendent K district covers both Finglas and Blanchardstown areas thus facilitating improved communications.

Item 3- Public meetings hosted by the JPC during the year

Safer Ballymun

There were 5 meetings held in 2011 with an average attendance of 45 people per meeting.

The Safer Ballymun Community Safety Strategy 2012-16 will be launched in March and includes adopting a more focused local fora format for the Ballymun area.

During Safer Ballymun Week, Community Garda and Safer Ballymun hosted a workshop on a new approach to tackling anti-social behaviour problems in the community called Problem Solving Policing. The approach emphasises getting at the underlining issues of a problem and recognises the need to involve those affected by a problem i.e. residents, local businesses, community groups etc in trying to resolve it. The SARA model is the basis of problem solving policing – Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment. One of the priorities identified in the revised Community Safety Strategy for 2012 – 2016 is the introduction of localised meetings based on the ‘Problem Solving Policing’ approach, which expands the Safer Ballymun way of working. It is intended that these meetings will be introduced in the New Year in east and west Ballymun. Output from these meetings will feedback to the public Safer Ballymun meetings.

Safer Ballymun will be launching its revised Community Safety Strategy 2012-2016 shortly. It is an important document for Safer Ballymun as it provides the structure which facilitates the implementation and monitoring of the partnership’s multi-agency approach to crime prevention and community safety, ensuring effective targeting of existing resources. It is the result of extensive consultation to further develop priorities to ensure that through working in partnership, everybody living and working in Ballymun will feel safe and be safe.

Finglas Safety Forum

In 2011, funding was approved under the National Drugs Strategy, with the Department of Justice acting as channel funder, to pay for the employment of a Co-ordinator for the Finglas Safety Forum. The Finglas Area Office has worked with the Safety Forum Co-ordinator to sub-divide the Safety Forum and develop subgroups over 3 geographical areas; Finglas East, West and South and also to increase numbers of residents attending their local forum meeting through the wide publication of meeting dates. The individual ‘neighbourhood forum’ each met 4 times during 2011 and each has a nominated member of staff from the Finglas Area Office as a point of contact:-

  • Finglas West – Larry Dooley
  • Finglas South – Brian Byrne
  • Finglas East – Jackie O’Reilly

The North West Area has also set up an Apartment Forum which meets regularly with the objective of monitoring the progress of the Multi-Unit Development Act 2011. It is hoped that this forum will help develop the capacity of apartment owners as they take on management company responsibilities for their development. Dublin City Council has acquired property in a number of these apartment developments locally.