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“<br />
outputs that doesn’t required large financial outlays. It’s a chance to make all our<br />
lives a little bit better.”<br />
Pat O’Connell, Sergeant for Cavan/Monaghan who worked on the Crime<br />
Prevention Ambassadors programme. “We identified the older people who were<br />
isolated in the county through our Older People’s Register. Then we recruited<br />
volunteers through the community alert groups and the Older People’s Forum in<br />
both counties. Each volunteer had to be Garda vetted before they could become<br />
a Crime Prevention Ambassador.<br />
Then we gave the volunteers a three to four hour briefing session, explaining<br />
how they would become a local link in the community to deliver crime prevention<br />
advice. The whole initiative is in line with the Garda Older Persons Strategy which<br />
focuses on community engagement and crime prevention. The idea is that the<br />
Crime Prevention Ambassadors can feed back information to the Gardai about<br />
anti-social behaviour or where the Gardai need to patrol more. There is a lot of<br />
things that we might not be aware of.<br />
Each Crime Prevention Ambassador is given high-vis jackets and crime<br />
prevention packs to give to the people they visit. This includes advice on how<br />
to keep your house secure, contact numbers of Gardai and other community<br />
services and panic alarms if needed. Being involved in the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Counties<br />
programme meant that we could quickly take the lead on this project. It is<br />
currently being evaluated for potential roll-out on a national basis.”<br />
“<br />
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