Dublin has lessons to offer Cork in hi-vis policing

High visibility policing patrols have been extended from Cork city centre into the suburbs, with confirmation that patrols have been stepped up in the Blackrock and Mahon area.

The strategy, which was rolled out to Cork in November last year, has seen success in lowering instances of anti-social behaviour in the city centre, as well as increasing incidents of crime detection. The extension of the plan into Cork’s suburbs follows a similar move taken by gardaí in Dublin in April, with patrols extended into the south and east of the city. High visibility patrols have been active in Dublin city centre since March 2025.

Similar programmes have since been rolled out in Galway and Limerick.

Data released by gardaí in April following the rollout of the plan to the south and east of Dublin found increased detection of crime in the city centre, including a 12% increase in the detection of public order offences, 21% for drunkenness, and 16% for possession of drugs.

They also recorded a reduction in the sale of drugs, theft, and assaults causing harm.

The results of the extension to the suburbs in Dublin have been positive and provide lessons for a similar rollout in Cork, according to Dublin City councillor Noelle Browne (Social Democrats).

“The effect its had is to make people safer, and An Garda Síochána have been doing a very good job,” she said.

She emphasised that the strength of the strategy lay in the active engagement of residents with gardaí, most crucially in reporting crime in their area.

“That is how policing happens: gardaí look at the reports that they have coming in, and they assign resources based on where they see spikes.

“There’s a reluctance among Irish people to only call gardaí when there’s an actual emergency, but if there are few or no calls coming in from an area, it won’t be prioritised,” she said.

However, she stressed that while the strategy had been successful since being introduced, it was not a long-term solution. An emphasis on community supports to get at the roots of crime was needed, she said.

“There is a much larger issue here, of communities which have been forgotten. In the long-term, we need to be looking at services for young people, making sure that these are funded and maintained, because they do work,” she said.

Going forward, improvements need to be made in communication between gardaí and communities said Browne. Community gardaí are an example of this.

“The ones on the ground do their job well, but it’s often difficult to find out who the community garda in an area actually is,” said Browne.

An element that also needs to be worked on she said, are programmes to bridge gaps between gardaí and communities that look on increased garda presence not as something that makes them safer, but as an intrusion, or surveillance.

Despite the challenges, Browne thinks that in Dublin the plan is no longer a pilot programme, and that it is there to stay.

As high visibility patrols are rolled out into Cork’s suburbs, the city will have to wait and see if the same can be said here.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.