Swords residents not told that a text service to report issues directly to Gardaí was shut down more than a year ago

In June 2020, Fingal County Council – along with An Garda Síochána and the Fingal Chamber – launched a new confidential service, “See Something – Say Something”.

Residents in the Swords area could report issues directly to Gardaí by text. And they did – and continued to, even though the line was shut down more than a year ago.

Locals weren’t told it was gone, and one group only learnt the service wasn’t active anymore at the start of this month, said Sinn Féin Councillor Ann Graves at the Balbriggan/Rush-Lusk/Swords Area Committee.

“They were kinda assuming that their texts were going somewhere,” she said.

Labour Councillor James Humphreys said at the meeting that the Department of Justice had recognised it as a good scheme and decided to roll it out nationally.

Because of that, the existing pilot service is defunct, he says. Yet, “there is no sign of this national scheme that we were told was going to replace it”.

While the Garda National Community Engagement Bureau was looking into expanding the pilot scheme back in 2022, according to Fine Gael TD Michael Stanton. There is no timeline yet as to when a wider service might be introduced.

An Garda Siochana and Fingal County Council did not respond to queries about when a new centralised service would be introduced, why the Swords service was concluded and why this text-line could not remain open prior to the expansion.

An effective system

The text service was created by the Kerry-based technology business See It Say It, and first rolled out in Killarney and Tralee.

Outside Kerry, the first pilot was launched in Swords in June 2020 by the council, Fingal Chamber and An Garda Síochána.

Locals were encouraged to use it to flag suspicious and illegal behaviour, according to a council press release.

It was a good service, Graves said at the area committee meeting on 11 January. “It worked. It gave people some sort of comfort to know that they sent their texts and there was somebody there, they got a receipt to say it was received.”

For Gardaí, it was a suitable alternative to the standard emergency telephone service, she says. “The system in place is, you have to dial 999 and the call is transferred over to the station.”

It gave people a sense of security because it created a record of the issue being flagged, she says. “And I also know the Gardaí welcomed this, because they could deal with calls in terms of priority, and quickly deal with stuff.”

Expansion

In mid-2021, Humphreys was working on trying to get the service expanded to Donabate, he says. “The council were dealing with the company that ran the system up until then.”

On 4 June 2021, at a Fingal Joint Policing Committee, the council proposed to relaunch the service in Swords and Donabate.

Then in October 2022, Fine Gael TD David Stanton asked Minister for Justice Helen McEntee if the Department of Justice had plans to review or expand community alert services nationwide.

In response, Fianna Fail TD James Browne, minister of state at the department, said the Garda National Community Engagement Bureau is exploring the further roll-out of the “See Something Say Something” alert service.

The service was innovative and had been successfully piloted in Swords and Tralee, Browne said. “The project will be rolled out in a number of additional areas.”

Only it hasn’t been. And the Swords service has stopped working.

While the launch of the service in Swords was well advertised on social media and posters, news that it had ceased wasn’t passed out to locals, says Graves, the Sinn Féin councillor. “So people are still using it, which is unfortunate.”

The text service was spread and used a lot among local residents groups on Facebook, says Humphreys, the Labour councillor. “When something was happening, they referred to that text line.”

For the last couple of months, he has been getting on to all the groups, Humphreys says. “Saying you have to get onto the Garda station now. The line doesn’t work.”

Addressing the demand

Humphreys introduced a motion at the January area committee meeting asking the council’s chief executive to write to the Minister for Justice about the status of the Swords pilot and the overall future of the scheme.

If a full service is going to take longer, why couldn’t the Swords service be kept in the meantime? asked Councillor Graves. “Let us have it, while they build on whatever they’re going to do.”

Green Party Councillor Karen Power said there was a demand for the service, which is an effective way to report anti-social behaviour.

She has previously tabled motions asking for a similar service in Balbriggan, she said. “And I was told that this would be dependent on the success of the pilot campaign in Swords. So it’s very disappointing to see that it’s actually just ceased to exist.”

Nikki Halleran, a senior executive officer in the council’s corporate services, said in response to Humphreys’ request that if the motion was passed, this matter would be forwarded to the Minister for Justice.

The councillors on the committee agreed the motion.