A meeting of Delvin Community Alert took place on Tuesday 28th September. The key points were as follows:

• Gardai reporting that local incidents are currently at a “low” level. There were 15 incidents in the last month, ranging from damage to cars to cattle on the road. Incident rates are higher in Killucan and Kinnegad area.
• Continued vigilance by members of the public will be essential as the darker evenings set in.
• Under a new system, there are now at least 4 nightly patrols of the area by local gardai. Residents and business owners should continue to contact the patrol on 086 858 3049 if they notice suspicious activity.
• Garda representative will work on improving follow-up calls when incidents are reported.
• By far, the biggest issue affecting people right now is scam activity. There are multiple active scammers working right now, using phone number cloning, localised calls, smishing, phishing, etc. DO NOT GIVE your personal details to these callers, whether contact made by text, phone, or email. If in doubt, call the official number of the service provider.
• Group finances are in good order.
• Three new signs will be positioned in key spots over coming months to raise scheme awareness.
• Existing subscribers to the local text messaging system will continue to receive texts free of charge until further notice.
• Garda text messages were not received by local service between the 7th January and 15th April, and again between the 16th July and the 20th September. Gardai unaware of what caused the issue as texts were sent but not received and forwarded. A second contact number will be added to the Garda text system.
• Local text system working normally.
• A further meeting will be called when retrictions eased further / public COVID confidence improves.