People living close to Garda stations feel no safer, report finds

People who live close to Garda stations do not feel any safer than those who live farther away, the Garda’s public attitudes survey shows. Those who live farthest from Garda stations have the least fearful outlook about crime in their area.

The findings represent a major embarrassment for the Government which has agreed to examine reopening recently closed Garda stations. The 6,000 respondents were asked questions based on their perception of crime in their community.

Put to participants that crime in their community was “a very serious problem”, 8 per cent of those living within 1km of a Garda station agreed. Seven per cent of those living 1-3km away and 3-5km away agreed. Among those living more than 10km from a station, just 5 per cent believed crime locally was “a very serious problem”.

Put to respondents that crime was “a serious problem” in their area, 23 per cent who lived within 1km of a station agreed. Those farthest from Garda stations were least fearful, with just 13 per cent of those living more than 10km away believing crime was a serious problem in their area.