A spate of thefts at churches throughout the county towards the end of last year led to volunteers forming a church security group to keep watch on carparks during Sunday mass and church services. From left, Tom McBrien, Fr Fintan McKiernan and Joe Brown outside Derrylin Chapel Picture: Ronan McGrade
POLICE vehicle checkpoints, together with house searches and the deployment of a ‘cash sniffer’ dog, are to be utilised, locally, by the PSNI in a crackdown on burglary in the county.
Superintendent Jane Humphries said the force was committed to preventing crime in both towns and in rural areas.
“We intend to make sure any burglary hotspots are receiving increased attention. As part of the overall operational plan, we will also be mounting checkpoints on roads to clamp down on travelling criminals.”
This latest PSNI initiative is along the lines of a similar operation at the end of January this year which was targeted at reducing rural crime.
Following a spate of break-ins at cars belonging to churchgoers, concern was raised councillors for remote areas.
Rosemary Barton, who lives in Lack, urged the PSNI to do more.
Ironically, theft from houses of copper which is then sold on to unscrupulous scrap meal dealers was a particular bugbear in recent years in the county. However, as the value of scrap metal fell, so did the price offered to the criminals, and that particular trend all but ceased.
However, the opportunist thief as well as the well-researched ‘travelling’ criminals remain a scourge.
For instance, earlier this year, two cash-in-transit delivery men were held up at gunpoint as they arrived to offload cash at a store in Derrylin and, late last year, cars in church carparks in Teemore, Derrylin and Florencecourt were broken into.
That led to parishioners of St Ninnidh’s Church setting up a church car park security watch when Mass and other services are taking place.
Superintendent Humphries said the upshot of the week-long exercise was to bring those responsible before the courts.
“The operation will see officers from across a number of districts raise the visible police profile against burglaries and burglars.
“This will involve mounting vehicle check points, conducting searches at premises of interest, deploying cash sniffer dogs and providing advice and information to householders and business owners on how to secure their premises.”
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