A KEY garda crime team who have made 600 arrests over the past two years is being disbanded, The Irish Sun has learned.
Officers on the DMR North Burglary Response Unit based in Santry were informed of the news this week and will now be transferred back to uniform duties.
Sources say that given the vast area the team covers, from Balbriggan right into Clontarf, there are fears criminals who were being targeted by the unit will now work to take advantage of the void left behind.
The unit once had around 20 gardai assigned to it, working around the clock. Despite it falling to ten officers in the past two years, it has had huge successes in bringing criminals before the courts.
Just last year, leading members of a Traveller gang were charged over stolen tools taken in burglaries nationwide.
The unit also played a key role in tackling the mobs who were stealing catalytic converters from imported cars.
A source explained: “It is very frustrating for the gardai involved because they had been doing sterling work.
“They had some great successes, 600 arrests in two years – you wouldn’t get that in any other unit in the country.
“Given how active burglary gangs are in Dublin, there needs to be a proactive response which there has been but it will now fall off with this unit being scrapped.”
Although no reason was given for the disbandment of the unit, sources say it is a consequence of not having enough frontline personnel.
The gardai in the unit had been seconded from stations around north Dublin.
Another source told us: “So when frontline members get into these task force units, senior management are then left struggling to fill the hole left behind.
“So this is a resourcing issue and this is the knock-on effect, this specialised unit is being wound up.
“It hasn’t gone down well at all for those who are affected by the move.”
The Garda Press Office was contacted for comment.
