The Labour Party has promised to triple the number of community gardaí to 1,500 over the next three years if it gets into government, writes Miriam Donohoe, Political Staff, in Templemore
The increase would be met through reform of the current Garda structures and some civilianisation, rather than through additional recruitment, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said.
Launching the second of the party's five "Commitments for Change" at the Garda training college in Templemore, Co Tipperary, yesterday, Mr Rabbitte said people were concerned about crime and anti-social behaviour.
"We need more gardaí visible in communities they know, serving the people they know."
Hard-working families were entitled to live in peaceful, law-abiding communities.
"I am convinced that changes in the manning, deployment and organisation of the Garda Síochána would have a hugely positive impact on people's quality of life and on the rates of crime and anti-social behaviour."
The Labour leader said gardaí should be a lot more focused on community policing, and stressed the importance of community gardaí getting to know the area they police, and being known by the people who live in these areas.
Currently there are 482 gardaí allocated to community policing, or 4 per cent of the Garda force. As an interim target Mr Rabbitte said Labour would triple this number in three years by:
• Revising the Garda roster so gardaí are on the streets where and when they are most needed;
• Driving the civilianisation process so that the maximum number of gardaí are available in communities and not in offices filling out forms;
• Creating a new career structure for community gardaí within the force to ensure that community policing is respected and valued and
• Creating local policing forums in individual communities to ensure that gardaí and the community work more effectively together
Mr Rabbitte said as the change would involve redeployment of current resources the cost would not be more than €10 million.
He said the relationship between gardaí and many local communities was problematic and getting worse. In those areas confidence in gardaí had waned, particularly among young males, the group gardaí were most likely to encounter.
He said some communities now faced a situation where human life had become incredibly cheap as armed drug gangs waged war on each other and innocent lives were lost in the process. Whole communities had suffered in their quality of life due to lawlessness, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
When questioned, Mr Rabbitte said there would be no question that gardaí would be taken away from drug units, murder units or other divisions to beef up the community police numbers.
He said only a few gardaí had been released from their desks to go on the beat despite promises from Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to bring in more civilians to do clerical work.
Community gardaí had a tremendous reputation and where they worked in communities it had been a policing success.
"We need to tackle the phenomenon of anti-social behaviour directly on the ground.
"We have a responsibility to ensure that people are free to live in peace and safety, free from harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear."