Plans to roll out property marking scheme in Limerick

PLANS are being progressed to roll-out a property marking scheme in communities across Limerick in an effort to reduce criminality.

At their quarterly meeting, members of the Limerick Joint Policing Committee were briefed on the initiative, which is being led by Property Marking Ireland –  a not-for-profit organisation that aims to deliver a community-led crime prevention programme in communities across the country.

The organisation, which was founded by James O’Neill a number of years ago, is seeking to locate a number of machines in Limerick which would then be made available to community groups and voluntary organisations.

”Everybody has got an eircode and that eircode is a unique identifier for their home address so we have a piece of equipment – a mobile property making machine –  that can put a permanent marking on their valuables. Whether that’s construction, whether that’s agricultural, whether that’s household - we can mark it,” said Mr O’Neill.

The initiative is being supported by An Garda Siochana and it’s hoped Limerick City and County Council will fund the purchase of a number of machines which each cost around €6,000.

Mr O’Neill told members of the committee that property crime is a growing social challenge in Ireland and that thefts in the construction industry have increased by 38% in the last three years.

He also pointed out that gardai also recover stolen property, worth hundreds of thousands of euro, every year but are unable to return it to the owners as they cannot be identified.

“We want to give people the best chance,  if you are a victim of crime, to ensure that your property can be returned to you. We also want to do a bit more than that because we reduce the fear of crime and property crime in particular,” he told the Limerick Leader.

In addition to providing access to the marking machine through groups such as Community Alert, neighbourhood Watch, Men’s Sheds and residents associations, signage will also be erected in communities where there is a significant uptake of the service.

This, Mr O’Neill said, has proven to be a major deterrent to travelling crime gangs in other parts of the country.

While the JPC does not have its own budget, members endorsed the initiative and it expected the proposed purchase of a number of machines will be discussed by elected members of the local authority in the coming weeks.

See www.propertymarking.ie for more information.