From Donegal Now Wednesday 28th October
A Garda Inspector has praised the swift public response which led to the arrest of three people in connection with a burglary in Ballyshannon.
The burglary occurred on Tuesday morning. Inspector Denis Joyce told Donegal Now that a suspect vehicle was identified and particulars were circulated by Text Alert.
“Gardaí received a number of telephone calls from people in West Donegal who had seen this vehicle,” he said. “There were sightings in Killybegs and the vehicle was apprehended in Ardara.”
The suspects were subsequently arrested and brought to Ballyshannon Garda Station where they were processed in accordance with Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994. They were later released and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Inspector Joyce said: “This is a great example of how Text Alert was of invaluable assistance to Gardaí and I want to thank those people who phoned in with sightings of this vehicle. We do not send many Text Alerts but when we do they are of immense importance to us. Well done to all.”
The highly co-ordinated Garda response to the incident included patrol cars from Killybegs and Carrick, a Traffic Corps vehicle from Donegal Town and two vehicles from the Armed Response Unit. Other Garda members in their private vehicles assisted in the follow-up Garda operation.
The Text Alert scheme was designed to facilitate immediate communication from An Garda Síochana to the public. It is run in conjunction with existing community-based crime prevention programmes such as Community Alert, Neighbourhood Watch and Irish Farmers’ Association branches.
