DONEGAL Gardaí are facing a crime crisis.
So few officers are available for duty, crime victims have been told they may have to wait for DAYS for them to attend.
We have learned that on one night last week just TWO Gardaí were on duty for the whole of the Letterkenny area.
Officers are also stretched in Ballybofey, Buncrana and Milford as they struggle to keep up with criminals.
One victim of crime in Letterkenny last week told Donegal Daily: “I had been robbed before and the guards were here in 20 minutes.
“But last week I was told no-one was available to come to my home as there were just two guards and they were dealing with other crimes. I was told it could be days before someone could come to take a statement.”
Rank and file Gardai in the county confirmed that a “serious lack of resources” had led to what they called a “crisis” in the force in Donegal.
“We just don’t have the personnel to deal with all the crimes taking place,” said one source.
“There’s a crisis right now and no-one appears to be doing anything about it. Our greatest fear is if we have a major incident because we don’t have the people to deal with it.”
The Garda Commissioner and the Justice Minister Alan Shatter have repeatedly claimed that the force in Donegal does have enough staff.
But Gardaí on the ground have dismissed the minister’s claims.
“It would take him five minutes to look at what we have to deal with and look at our numbers. If this was happening in his constituency there would be uproar,” said another source.
Gardaí did make a number of arrests at the weekend in relation to car crime.
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