IT is as dark as it gets in rural, Ireland. Two men stand at the crossroads, stamping to keep warm. As a car approaches they switch on their torches and walk towards it. In the shadows nearby another two men wait in a parked car. An Uzi semi-automatic machine gun lies on the floor in front of the passenger seat.
These are the good guys. Thanks to this Garda checkpoint near Loughrea, Co Galway, on Wednesday night some people slept a little better. Every night two uniformed officers, backed up by armed plainclothes detectives, move around the isolated roads, setting up half-hour check-points along the way.
Most cars are waved through, while those who are "known to the Garda" are questioned about their movements. Garda intelligence sheets pinned up in stations list the number plates and names of suspects, plus their methods. One man is known to call on elderly people claiming he has run out of petrol.
After the first week of Operation Shannon in Galway, Roscommon and Clare, all the districts are reporting not just low crime levels, but no-crime levels. "There might have been a bit of shoplifting, but nothing serious," said Chief Supt Tom Monaghan in Galway.
The operation involves local gardai, with assistance from the Dublin-based Emergency Response Unit and an Air Corps Alouette helicopter. It is a response to a spate of attacks on the elderly.
Last week a 68-year-old retired farmer, Mr Tommy Casey, was found in a pool of blood in his house at Oranmore, off the main Galway road. He had been beaten up and left to die.
As one senior Garda source put it "Operation Shannon may not be solving a lot of crime, but it's certainly alleviating a lot of fear." It is understood that the operation is scheduled to last four weeks. Then it will be reviewed.
Overtime restrictions have been relaxed and so far the local Garda involvement has been funded from existing budgets in the Garda divisions.
NORA Hanlon (70) is one of these grateful people. She lives alone in a farmhouse on bogland outside Ballinasloe. In target terms she is a sitting duck.
On her mantelpiece she keeps a large torch beside the china dogs. She has left the key on the outside of her door, when two detectives from Loughrea arrive to check on her.
Her phone has been out of order for two days. "I often wake up and think there is someone in the room. I thought at night if I could stay out in the shed I would be safe."
Last May someone climbed through an upstairs window and stole money that she kept to pay the electricity bill. When she declared her savings her pension was docked by £6 a week.
She, her two dogs and a marmalade kitten spend most of the day in one room where a turf burning stove is the only source of heat. Nora holds the TV remote control in one hand and her walking stick in the other.
She describes the gardai as her "best friends" and repeats the five-digit number of Ballinasloe Garda station like a mantra. The drive to her house from Ballinasloe would take about 10 minutes.
Her 83-year-old neighbour was burgled recently. They took some antique furniture and china. The woman remembered her mother serving dinner to her on one of the plates when she was 15. The burglar is now out on bail.
One senior Garda source said the fear in rural areas means that people are now taking the same precautions as they would in city suburbs.
In parts of the country where electricity arrived less than 20 years ago people still live in houses with rotting windows and unlocked doors. "You're not just talking about a few backward farmers. There were people the most sophisticated, titled people who were cleaned out because they didn't take the basic precautions."
In a small village near Ballinasloe a man, who did not want to be named, said he was considering buying a shotgun. "Not just a single-barrel, a repeater that holds five cartridges."
He does a milk round, and his wife is alone in their modern bungalow most of the day. A garda used to be based in the village, but now the nearest part-time station is a mile down the road. The village church is derelict and no one can remember when it was last used.
In nearby Kilconnell, business is good for Vincent Giblin. The shopkeeper owns the furniture and hardware store, supermarket and pub in the village. One of his biggest sellers this week has been the single-barrelled shotgun. They are stacked behind the grocery shelves. He has sold 25 in the last week.
"Sales are always good at this time of the year," he says. It is the lambing season, and farmers use them against dogs worrying their sheep. However, 25 shotguns in a week is unprecedented. He would normally sell 50 in a year. The single-barrelled is the most popular model. It is the cheapest at around £120.
Across the road the Kilconnell Garda station is part-time. It is open to the public two hours a day. When there is no one around a radio connection "patches" calls through to Ballinasloe.
The choice between a shotgun and a burglar alarm is a simple one for people living in what one garda described as "wild country". When it takes up to half an hour for a Garda car to reach you, some people are happier to load a shotgun than press a panic button.
One security firm in Galway has had a 50 per cent increase in inquiries this week. According to John Byrne, customer services manager at Nightguard Security, most of the elderly people who call are not in a position to buy a house alarm.
"We've had a lot of inquiries about the tax rebate, but the fact that it's not a grant means most people don't qualify. You have to be over 65, living alone and in the tax net. No one we've talked to fits those criteria." He says the average cost of a house alarm is £600.
AT the Kelly house in a townland near Kilconnell, the welcome mat in the front porch is not used by unexpected visitors. They are met first by Bruno, the ageing family dog. Then Breedge Kelly comes around from the back door, giving her a chance to see who is calling.
Her husband, Sean, says he believes there has been a lot of hype about the "crime wave". He doesn't consider his family to be at risk. He says they don't keep cash in the house.
Breedge says she would not be comfortable in the house on her own at night. Yesterday she phoned the gardai in Ballinasloe to check my credentials. Ironically, her townland is called Trust.
Insp Pat Forde, from Loughrea Garda station, insists that Operation Shannon is "not a cosmetic exercise". Two gardai manning a checkpoint in his district say the response from the public has been more than positive. "We couldn't drink all the tea we've been offered."
So far there have been two arrests at a checkpoint in Ballinasloe. Gardai recovered stolen property and some weapons. A third arrest, in Clare, was partly attributed to the operation by Insp Michael Barry of Ennis.
Gardai in Galway have arrested and questioned four people in connection with the murder of Tommy Casey. This investigation is running separately from the operation, they say.
Having got used to their security blanket, the people in Galway, Clare and Roscommon may be reluctant to give it up. One senior garda tells of an incident last week when a bus broke down outside Dublin. The passengers marched into the nearest Garda station and demanded a Garda escort to their homes, he says.
Putting uniformed gardai on isolated crossroads at night is about relieving that fear, he says. "It will be a brave decision to pull it out."
