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Incompetent policing allowed the theft of Crossmaglen ATM to take place - Hearty

Published: 16 January, 2010

Crossmaglen Sinn Féin councillor Terry Hearty has said that the theft of an ATM from the town last night was the result of incompetent policing. The ATM which is situated a short distance from the local PSNI barracks was stolen within weeks of two attempted ATM thefts in the South Armagh area. Cllr Hearty said; "First of all I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms, the actions of these criminals last night. They have not only stolen a considerable sum of money but they have also robbed the community in Crossmaglen of a much used service. "I believe however, that this was a preventable crime. These robberies are becoming more and more common across the North. Less than a month ago there was an attempted theft of an ATM in Camloch, a number of weeks ago a cash machine was stolen in Forkhill. Given the fact that the Crossmaglen machine is the busiest ATM in South Armagh and is situated a short distance from the PSNI barracks, people are questioning how the PSNI were unable to prevent this. "I also understand that the PSNI had considerable resources in Crossmaglen last night. To put it simply - imcompetent policing allowed the theft of this ATM to take place."