DUBLIN Metropolitan Area East is a large and socially diverse division, which incorporates some of the most affluent communities in the Republic and is home to more than a few famous people.
One of Dublin's five divisions, it starts at the Merrion gates in Dublin 4 and stretches to Kilcoole, Co Wicklow, where the Wexford division begins. Its three districts revolve around the major urban centres of Blackrock, Dun Laoghaire and Bray, but it also embraces a large expanse of countryside, including part of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains.
The area has inevitable attractions for criminals, especially burglars, but it has escaped the worst of the drug related violence which has so dominated the headlines over the past couple of years.
This may be at least in part because none of the known or suspected major figures in the drugs underworld lives in the area DMA East has been free of the gangland killings which have dotted other parts of Dublin in recent times.
The division is hemmed in on its eastern side not only by the sea, but also by the DART, and the line has probably played an unwitting part in the current crime profile of the area.
The DART has proved as popular with criminals as it has with the general public. DART car parks, especially, have long been popular with car thieves, who in the past have seen easy pickings in vehicles left largely unsupervised.
DMA East has its indigenous criminals, of course, but a high number of burglars and others particularly in Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire are known to come from elsewhere, often from the city centre or from other suburbs within convenient distance of the DART line.
Ironically, the line's success as a form of public transport has given Dublin criminals easier access in and out of the south eastern suburbs and to the beaches, where other soft targets congregate.
The division does not include the classic "diplomatic belt" of Dublin 4, but it does have some embassies and more than a few ambassadorial residences. These include the most sensitive of all the home of the British ambassador, which has hosted several visits from British royalty in recent times. Gardai will only say it accounts for a "substantial" security presence.
Another special concern for the gardai is the number of people in the area who are very wealthy, very famous, or both. From members of U2 to the British Formula I racing driver Damon Hill, DMA East is home to a disproportionate number of high profile people.
The threat of kidnappings is an ever present worry for gardai individuals look after their own security to a great extent, but the Garda regularly passes on warnings where a house appears to be under unusual surveillance.
The final special characteristic of the division is its long coastline and the unusually high number of residents who have access to the sea via yachts and other pleasure craft. The burden and the resource of such a porous coastline was recognised this week when DMA East belatedly launched the local version of Coastal Watch a sea front variation on the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.