Work to begin on Laois Joint Policing Committee replacement next month

Work will begin to set up the replacement of Laois Joint Policing Committee at a meeting of Laois County Council in September. 

The move follows the issuing of a guidance document from the Department of Justice in relation to the formation and running of Local Community Safety Partnerships(LCSP) in each local authority.

Laois County Council has notified elected members of the plans to form the body which replaces the Laois Joint Policing Committee which hadn’t convened in Laois in around 18 months. 

The Laois Joint Policing Committee met every three months and included a round up of policing and crime statistics from Gardaí. It allowed Councillors and representatives of community groups to discuss issues around policing and security in Laois. 

The new body will be scaled back in terms of the number of Councillors when compared to the previous forum which had 13 Councillors.

Specific details of the membership of the new forum have not been outlined to Councillors. The previous JPC in Laois had 13 Councillors, three Oireachtas members, two senior Gardaí and six community representatives.  

“The LCSP membership must be configured to give the broadest of representation across community safety sectoral interests, demographic and community interests in order to achieve the best community safety outcome for that area,”  Councillors were informed by Laois County Council. 

“As set out in the legislation and guidance, seven elected members will represent the Local Authority on the LCSP and nominees should reflect the elected representational spread on the full Council, with consideration given to diversity, including gender diversity. They should, as far as is practical, be representative of each Municipal District,” they were informed. 

“A member of Laois County Council staff at Director of Service level will also sit on the LCSP. Three other public sector bodies will be represented on the LCSP, namely An Garda Síochána, HSE and TUSLA.”

“Other members will be representative of a number of sectors (eg youth/education/new communities/business/social inclusion etc) and will be nominated by the Chief Executive of the Local Authority,” the Council stated. 

Members of the new Local Community Safety Partnership(LCSP) are appointed by the Minister for Justice. 

“An update will be provided to the elected members at the September Council Meeting in relation to progress in obtaining nominations to the Local Community Safety Partnership and next steps in progressing to the first meeting of the Laois LCSP,” Councillors were informed.