The latest Garda Podcast focused on the work they are doing to keep rural communities safe, in a conversation with Superintendent Michael Corbett, An Garda Síochána's Rural Crime Lead.

In the podcast, Supt. Corbett offered crime prevention advice to those living in rural Ireland and also talked in detail about a range of topics.

The episode covers the topics of trespassing, illegal hunting, livestock worrying and much more.

On the podcast, presented by Patrice Harrington, Supt. Corbett said: “I come from a farming and rural background and I represent An Garda Síochána on the National Rural Safety Forum for the last five years.  

“My role primarily focuses on being a national point of contact for all the national rural organisations, for example, farming organisations, community groups, government departments, local authorities around the whole area of rural crime.

"I'm the national point of contact for those organisations when it comes to rural crime.”

He added that “focusing on promoting crime prevention awareness is a big part of the role as well”, as is “keeping a spotlight on rural crime”.

Supt. Corbett said that he believes it’s “very important that rural crime and rural communities have a voice at the table”.

Advice

According to Supt. Corbett: “Most of the crimes that you'll have in urban areas, you will also have in rural areas, for example, burglaries, drugs, drug intimidation is a significant issue across the country at the moment."

He also highlighted the issue of "thefts of livestock and farm machinery in rural areas" and said that "illegal hunting and trespassing is currently a big issue for all the farming organisations”.

He added that other issues include “bogus traders and callers, domestic violence, online fraud and scams, and of course, road safety, which affects us all, you know, our rural roads”.

Supt. Corbette mentioned the importance of  “vigilant and connected communities” .  

He added that “the likes of the community alerts, neighbourhood watch groups, business watch, hospital watch” are able to “disseminate information very quickly”.

He said: “Coming from a rural background myself, you know, we all know what our neighbours are driving.

"And, you know, if you notice something that's out of place or you see a vehicle parked in a lane or a bore in that you're just, your gut feeling is that, you know, there's something not right here.

“And if it checks out, that's great. There's no problem. If it's somebody, you know, that's there legitimately, that's fine. And then if it's somebody involved in a criminal act, well, that's great because it's given us a head start to intercept that people, you know, and see what they're at and what they're doing.”

He added that “criminals will operate under the cover of darkness, speed and opportunity” and that “with the right steps, you can eliminate all three of those using technology and just common sense”.

He said: “Locks and gates, lighting, even a good dog in a yard is a very good deterrent as well for people coming in.”

The full conversation is on The Garda Podcast, which is available on all major podcast platforms.