“Letterkenny teens to buzz off”- not quite!
March 11th, 2007Thursday’s Irish News had a front page article talking about a new public order initiative in Letterkenny. The issue had been discussed extensively on Highland Radio on Tuesday, following a mention it received at Monday’s meeting of the Joint Policing Committee.
You can download the article from the Irish News website by clicking here. It’s a 1.5mb PDF, so I’ve included the article below:
I’d like to clarify this piece a bit.
At the end of Monday’s Policing Committee meeting, Cllr Dessie Larkin mentioned this system. He was made aware of by talking to Frank Grimes of the Four Lanterns. Frank’s son Kevin is quoted in the article above, as the Four Lanterns have installed the system in (I understand) one store, and will be spreading it to others soon. Dessie asked that the Joint Policing Committee would be willing to have the company behind the scheme come in and make a presentation.
That’s it; we’re going to see a presentation on the system and how it works. The council is not going to “try” the gadget, we’re not considering installing it anywhere and we’re not considering endorsing it. The Policing Committee is simply being brought up-to-speed on a new device in the Security Industry.
I have real concerns about this device and how it can work. I have no idea what effects it will have on the problems that businesses seek to address with it, but there are definite issues here to do with the use of such a device in a public place.
The Mosquito system uses a high pitched tone, that can’t be heard by people over about the age of Twenty, that annoys them so much they leave the area. It’s seen as a deterrent to loitering, and therefore anti-social behaviour, in a given locaiton.
I can understand why the Four Lanterns would be seeking to take any steps available to them to ensure that their businesses remain free from trouble. I’ll reserve judgment on the matter until we see the presentation, and get a chance to get the full details on the system.
Update: Here’s an article about the system from the Derry People
Update 2: Here’s more press coverage: Letterkeny Post, Belfast Telegraph, Irish Independent (Free Signup Required), Highland Radio, ElectricNews.net
Update: March 20th: RTE’s Six-One news programme covered the Mosquito today, and interviewed Kevin Grimes from the Four Lanterns. You can watch RTE’s footage here