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Community Policing

The Challenge

Irish society has changed radically since the Garda Síochána was founded in 1922. There are more crimes, more drug and alcohol abuse, more public order offences and more anti-social behaviour, making life a misery for so many citizens. Whole communities - including some of our most marginalised communities - have suffered in their quality of life due to lawlessness, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Yet despite the fact that growth in crime and antisocial behaviour - and, in particular, the impact of alcohol and illicit drugs on crime - have created new demands on policing, Ireland's policing structures are virtually unchanged since the foundation of the state.

Our police force has a proud tradition of service, both to the Irish people and to the communities they have served with the UN abroad. But tradition alone will not provide the Irish people with the world class modern police service they deserve and which the Garda Síochána could provide. The ingredients for

such a world class system already exist, but the Gardaí are currently falling short of that goal, and there is a decline in public confidence in the force. In a changing world there is an increasing need for the Garda Síochána to adapt and change, so that it can better serve the community.

The Garda Síochána must become a modern, effective police service with a firm commitment to community policing, modern management structures and proper systems of accountability.

Ireland can do better

People deserve to live in peace and safety, free from harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear. More Gardaí on the beat, working in communities they know serving people they know, can make a real impact on crime and anti-social behaviour.

What Labour will do

A Modern and Accountable Police Service

Labour believes we need more Gardaí on the ground - on the beat,patrolling our neighbourhoods.This can only be achieved by speeding up the pace of reform within the Garda Síochána.

We need changes in structure, organisation and management in order to ensure the most effective deployment of the Gardaí and the most efficient possible use of resources. In particular the situation where virtually all key decisions in regard to policing are made by just two people - the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner - is no longer appropriate and new procedures for democratic accountability are required.

We will reform our policing service from the top down and the bottom up.

At the top, we will ensure increased public scrutiny and greater accountability of the Gardaí through a new Garda Authority, representative of civil society, to stand between the Commissioner and his officers on the one hand, and the Minister for Justice and his Department on the other. The Authority will incorporate the current Garda Inspectorate and will drive the reform agenda and drive efficiency and effectiveness.

Key objectives for the Authority will include:

• Revising Garda rostering, so that Gardaí are on the streets where and when they are most needed.
• Driving a comprehensive civilianisation programme, so that the maximum number of Gardaí are available for frontline duties.
• Opening up senior Garda recruitment to external candidates and ensuring the best recruitment and promotion practices are operated.
• Improving Garda diversity to reflect changes in Ireland's population profile.
• Using performance data from different Garda regions, districts and divisions, to drive innovation and initiative in tackling crime.
• Top-heavy Garda management will be streamlined with greater responsibilities going to regional Assistant Commissioners to take powers in their own areas. The Garda Commissioner will be expected to relinquish routine day-to-day affairs to Deputy Commissioners.
• Garda equipment will be continually updated with essential items such as stab vests and pepper sprays.

People deserve to live in peace and safety, free from harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear. More Gardaí on the beat, working in communities they know serving people they know, can make a real impact on crime and anti-social behaviour.

More Gardaí visible in communities they know, serving people they know

Labour's commitment is to a system of community policing where Gardaí participate in the community and respond to the needs of that community and where the community participates in its own policing and supports the Gardaí.

What Labour will do:

• Triple the number of community Gardaí to 1500 within three years.
• Place a much greater emphasis on community policing throughout the force, including recognition of the special status of the Community Garda. This will involve a much greater physical presence on the ground - walking the beat, visible on public transport, visiting schools.
• Community Gardaí will stay working in their communities for significant periods of time and will not be diverted from community duties at the drop of a hat. Garda organisational structures will be amended to reflect a focus on community-based policing and an acknowledgement of the value of the Gardaí involved in it.
• Community policing will be a serious career option for Gardaí, in which they can reasonably expect advancement.
• Develop new community policing structures, through local policing forums in individual communities, to reconnect the Gardaí and local communities in a spirit of genuine partnership. A successful community policing programme will mean that residents will be able to personally name their community Garda - the contact point responsible for the visible policing of their community.
• A real commitment to visible and effective community policing will require the recruitment of additional Gardaí and not the diversion of serving members. This will mean a policing service of at least 15,000 in the lifetime of the next government, even allowing for the numbers of existing Gardaí who are released back into core policing duties through greater civilianisation and more effective rostering. Further increases in Garda numbers would follow from recommendations to government by the Garda Authority.
• Increase recruitment from areas with the worst crime and anti-social behaviour and from minorities.
• Garda training will be enhanced in key areas including: firearms training, driver training, legal training, urban crowd control, traffic management, human rights, domestic violence and sexual offences. This will include shared training with members of the PSNI.
• Training of Garda recruits will be reformed to include time spent in a mainstream third level institution, in an urban setting.

Anti-social behaviour

Our response to anti-social behaviour is not confined to just a policing plan.

We will:

• Increase the number of Juvenile Liaison Officers and increase the resources for the Probation & Welfare system.
• Fund and commence all sections of the Children Act 2001.
• Set up new sporting and leisure activities, particularly for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Extend the Drugs Court and a system of restorative justice that has proved so successful in dealing with young offenders in other jurisdictions.
• Mandate the proposed Sport and Recreation Ireland in partnership with the Department of Justice, the Garda and the probation service to develop physical activity programmes for young offenders, including adventure/outward bound type programmes. The Fair Society - Labour Manifesto 2007