Cameras hidden in sods of turf spy on litter louts

By DÓNAL NOLAN

Wednesday March 23 2011

SPY cameras hidden in sods of turf and rusty tin cans have caught a number of people red-handed in the act of illegally dumping waste at a remote North Kerry location.

The spy cameras have been deployed by Kerry County Council in a bid to identify those responsible for the continuing plague of illegal dumping at a number of remote spots in the county.

One of the biggest obstacles to prosecution is the acquisition of positive identification of offenders. Now it would appear that the council has hit on its most effective weapon yet in the battle to clean-up Kerry.

The cameras are placed in tin cans which are then mounted in sods of turf to monitor the target areas from a variety of angles.

Senior Planning Engineer Tom Sheehy told county councillors at a meeting of the authority on Monday that the cameras had caught a number of offenders at one noted dumping ground in North Kerry location.

The offenders — who may not as yet know they have been caught — are expected to be prosecuted in the coming months for a crime that is continuing to ruin many of the county’s beauty spots. SPY-cameras hidden in sods of turf in a remote North Kerry location that has been blighted by illegal dumping have caught a number of offenders, all of whom are expected to be prosecuted.

The cameras were deployed by Kerry County Council in a bid to clamp down on littering in a number of the worst affected locations in the county.The highly unusual initiative was taken to overcome the difficulties in positively identifying offenders who will escape a conviction in court unless they are nailed by direct evidence.

Senior Planning Engineer Tom Sheehy told councillors on Monday that the council is satisfied with the success rate of the cameras used in one ‘remote North Kerry’ location — which remains unidentified for operational reasons.

Mr Sheehy explained that the cameras were hidden in tin cans and secreted in sods of turf. “They got a number of offenders and we will be prosecuting them shortly,” he told the meeting.

The comments came as the council was presented with a report on littering in Kerry. The report once again highlighted the dearth of successful prosections: Of the 583 cases of illegal dumping investigated by the council in 2010, only 12 were successfully prosecuted. €3,520 was generated in revenue in fines and costs awarded on foot of prosecutions, with a further €5,560 generated through 96 on-the-spot fines.

The report led to a spirited debate among councillors who were unanimously critical of offenders; particularly Cllr Michael Gleeson who made an impassioned plea while holding litter he had recently picked-up from the side of the road.

Clutching a sheaf of election literature that was dumped, along with thousands of similar sheafs Cllr Gleeson said: “To the bad-minded person who did that I say you are not deserving to call yourself a Kerry person… you have degraded a wonderful county. It did not sadden me to lose the election, but it angered and saddened me that someone could do something like this.”

Cllr John Brassil called for the fines for littering to be increased. “The fines are totally inadequate, it should be in excess of €1,000 for anyone littering our streets in any way,” he said.