There Will Be A High Garda Presence At This Dublin Shopping Centre On Saturday

Darragh Berry

Gardaí have confirmed that there will be a big Gardaí presence at one of the main shopping centres in the country on Saturday.

Gardaí are holding a Retail Action Day which will take place between 10am and 6pm as part of Operation Thor in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre.

A crime prevention workshop will be set up in the shopping centre by the Divisional Crime Prevention Officer, supported by members of the Community Engagement Unit.

Gardaí will mount high visibility patrols in the area of the Shopping Centre and crime prevention advice will be provided to the public.

Speaking ahead of the operation Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy said:

“An Garda Síochána are delighted to be working in partnership with the Irish Retail Loss Prevention Forum and the greater retail community to reduce retail crime in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

“Acknowledging the fact that retail impacts significantly on the economy I fully support the coordinated ‘Days of Action’ which will take place in various shopping centres and retail parks over the next number of weeks.”

Their aim this year is to surpass the reduction achieved during the initiative in 2017. Building on the success of last year’s event the initiative will again target persons who specialize in committing retail related crime.

They will focus on criminals who use vehicles to target various locations at different times causing the greatest amount of disruption to businesses.

In addition to this they will be on hand to offer crime prevention advice to the retail sector and the public in general at our crime prevention clinics which are an integral part of the strategy.

As well as this, they will also be operating a two day operation in the Ashbourne Garda District from Friday until the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Two Day Operation consists of the following:

Searches under warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act with the assistance of the Regional Surveillance Unit
High visibility Checkpoints assisted by the Regional Armed Support Unit
High visibility patrols by regular units, traffic units and Regional Armed Support Unit
Execution of Warrants Penal and Bench warrants
Plain clothes Burglary patrols
Public Order beat patrols
Inspection of Licensed premises
Monitoring of Bail Conditions of prolific offenders residing in the area
Engaging with the Public on Crime Prevention, Road Safety and Community Policing utilising the Eastern Region Command and Control Vehicle.