Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin. Photo: Provision

Rise in drug activity

There has been great work done in tackling drugs and criminal activity on Leeside, a senior garda has said as detections of drugs for sale, supply and personal use have increased.

Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin made the comment during a recent policing meeting where he revealed new figures for January and February 2021 and for the same two months in 2020.

He confirmed there was an 80 per cent rise in possession of drugs for sale or supply, from 41 to 74, while possessions of drugs for personal use surged by 107 per cent, from 142 to 294.

Meanwhile while there were no detections of manufacturing or cultivating drugs in January and February 2020 there were two in January and February this year.

The new figures were published at the latest Cork City Joint Policing Committee meeting during which Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin spoke about how gardaí on Leeside are working under several operations brought in to tackle the spread of Covid-19 on top of their normal duties.

He praised his colleagues for their work over the past year.

Speaking during the virtual Cork City JPC meeting, Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin said: “I have to acknowledge the good work that’s being done by my colleagues on the ground day and night. “We continue to man checkpoints and preform various operations that we have to do, like under Operation Fanacht, and proactive patrolling. On top of that we carry out inspections of license premises under Operation Navigation, inspections of retail outlets and monitoring and policing domestic violence under Operation Faoiseamh but the day-to-day work continues too.”

He added: “We continue with our community engagement across the board as well as the detection and prevention of crime. There has been great work done on the ground particularly in the detections regarding drugs and criminal activity.”