Eurolink News

Good feedback from EU-funded text alert scheme (29/10/08)

October 29, 2008 at 4:21 pm Leave a comment

A pilot project being run in the south of the country which uses text message technology to promote community safety should be replicated across the country, say organisers. The initiative is being coordinated as part of the Community Alert Programme, a nationwide network set up in 1985 by Muintir na Tíre and the gardaí.
The concept is simple: gardaí are notified of suspicious behaviour in a rural community. They send out a text message to a central service operated by IFA Telecoms, which is forwarded automatically to registered members of every local Community Alert group. The scheme has been piloted in parts of Kerry, Cork and Tipperary since August of this year. Initial funding of €100,000 was provided by InterReg, an EU body that sponsors regional development; and it’s estimated that it would cost less than €10,000 to establish an all-Ireland scheme.
Garda Noel O’Connell says the initiative has been ‘enormously positive’ for the 64 Community Alert groups in Kerry. ‘It just would not be practical for me to make 64 phone calls on single issue. Now I can get the message out almost immediately with just one text.’ He gave one example of how system works: ‘There were bogus revenue officials doing the rounds in Tralee, Castleisland and North Kerry, asking elderly people specific financial information about their savings. We sent out a text, and every community in Kerry was made aware of the fraudsters.’
A survey was carried out to trace the journey of one particular text alert sent a few weeks ago in the Glanmire area of Cork, about a bank card skimmer on an ATM machine. Each person who received the alert passed it on to an average of four more people, and the text reached over 2,000 people within a day and a half. Diarmuid Cronin, local Community Alert Development Officer in Cork, says the end result of the text alert scheme is not just a reduction in anti-social behaviour, but a greater sense of community. ‘It strengthens the bond and the team spirit between ordinary people and the gardaí,’ he said.
The scheme will be evaluated early in 2009, when a decision will be made whether to extend it nationwide.

Entry filed under: Crime and the EU, EU funding, Safety and the EU. Tags: .