Mr. Mark Toland:

We went to Limerick first and, while we did not look at particular issues in terms of the gang issues, it is a different place to what it was four or five years ago as a result of the work they have done to focus on what effectively is normally a small number of people who cause havoc in a small community. In Limerick, we found some very good practices in policing operations. Although it was not one of the divisions we looked at, we also went to the Dublin metropolitan region, DMR (North), and to Store Street. We looked at their new community policing model. The thing I like about it is that they are knocking on doors, which is something we did in London, and reintroducing themselves to the community. However, most important, they are finding out what are the local priorities for that particular community rather than telling them what are the policing priorities and that this is what they are going to invest their resources in. They are going out to find out what the community issues are. These issues tend to be young people, who are not necessarily committing crime but who are hanging around, anti-social behaviour and drug dealing. That particular division is focusing on the priorities and reporting to those communities. The feedback is very good. It now has a database of 10,000 stakeholders whom it can contact and which it can update. It is a good example of responding to a community's priorities rather than just assuming one knows what is actually affecting a particular community.