Janine Bartley

Background

About Janine Bartley

Local Community Safety Coordinator- Longford County Council In December 2018, the Government approved A Policing Service for our Future – a four year plan (2019 – 2022) to implement the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI) Report, The Future of Policing in Ireland. A key principle of the CoFPI Report is that policing is not the responsibility of An Garda Síochána alone and involves other agencies of Government such as Local Government, health, youth and social services. As recommended by CoFPI, the Government approved the development of new legislation – the Policing and Community Safety Act – which will redefine policing and the role of An Garda Síochána and other state agencies in harm prevention. The Government of Ireland has now enacted the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 informed by a Community Safety policy approach. Community Safety is about people feeling and being safe in their communities. It entails collaborative, multi-agency approaches to harm prevention measures at the local community level. Local Community Safety Partnerships, with this broader multi-agency focus are replacing and building on work done by the existing Joint Policing Committees (JPCs). The Longford Local Community Safety Partnership was one of 3 national pilot Local Community Safety Partnerships. The Local Community Safety Partnership will give communities a stronger voice in identifying and tackling the issues they face and connect them with a wider range of services to address these issues. Agencies and service providers across a range of areas will work with community representatives on community solutions to complex safety problems. The learnings from the pilot will be used to improve the functioning of the partnership and inform national roll-out of the initiative. Objectives of LCSPs: a. Prioritise issues identified by the community as safety concerns b. Improve multi-agency collaboration in the pilot area c. Increase community confidence in service providers