Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy today reiterated his intention to recruit officers from other countries to cope with the demands of a dynamic society.
Speaking at the opening of the International Police Association's (IPA) conference in Dublin Castle Mr Conroy said he recognised that a new police act had gone through the Dáil and that there was now a different society.
"We will naturally enough be recruiting people, maybe from some of your forces, and, who knows, maybe we may be making contact with you to find suitable people to police the new communities we have now in Ireland," he told members of polices forces from around the world.
The Garda is set to expand from 12,000 members to 14,000 members by 2007.
In the last decade, the number of non-nationals living and working in the country has increased dramatically. And the force has been rocked by the revelations from the Morris Tribunal about garda corruption in Donegal.
"We are going through enormous change, change that has occurred in this country. It has up to now been a force where we recruited from Irish society because we dealt with Irish people. It's only natural that policing can change," the commissioner added.
Mr Conroy was addressing around 320 police officers from 62 different countries who are attending the IPA conference.
The recruitment of officers from other forces with the subsequent benefit of increased experience and international best practice was a key recommendation of both of the Morris tribunal's reports so far.
"Now we will have to go further afield and hopefully entice other people from other countries to join our police force," he said.
The international president, Michael Odysseos, from Cyprus said his association could play a vital role in combating new challenges, especially international terrorism: "What is needed is to have a channel for information. We have Interpol but there is too much bureaucracy."
"With the IPA, you can pick up the phone or send an e-mail to a member and you get a reply immediately," he added.
The IPA, which has around 340,000 members across the world, had a large contingent of American police officers at its conference. Many of them still have Irish links due to the strong tradition of immigrants joining the police force in the US.
Bob Killen, deputy sheriff in Coconut Creek, Florida, whose ancestors are from Co Clare, said there was still a strong Irish presence in the US police: "I'm a member of the Emerald Society of South Florida for police officers. There's meetings once a month and its predominantly Irish American," he said.
PA