GUNNING FOR THE ARMED CRIMINALS

Elite units boosted by 44 new recruits

ELITE nationwide armed policing units are set to be dramatically beefed up as 32 gardai and 12 sergeants are drafted in to fight gun crime.

The new tactical officers will take up their posts early next month.

Those involved in the units were part of a lengthy recruitment and training regime at the Garda college in Templemore in recent months.

Sources have said they will join other officers in what were originally known as Regional Support Units in cities and towns across Ireland.

One said: “They will now make new units turning the armed support capability into a more 24-hour orientated service to assist unarmed gardai on the ground. They are a great asset and bring the capability of highly trained, tactically aware, heavily armed gardai into the rural towns of Ireland.

“They have had huge successes in cities like Limerick where they have been involved in confronting the gangs.

“In cities such as Cork and Galway they’ve been used to end high-risk armed sieges and confront armed raiders.”

The Garda strategy for armed cover is moving away from the use of plain clothes officers and detectives carrying guns to a more Uk-based model of armed response units.

Gardai in the unit undergo three months of training and are taught by members of the elite

ON BOOSTED NUMBERS FOR SPECIALIST UNITS

Emergency Response Unit in everything from gun handling, close quarters combat and door breaching techniques. A Special Tactics & Operations Command was established last August to handle the units and give a national oversight on armed operations. A source said: “The ASU in Dublin played a critical role in confronting the Hutch-kinahan feud and has been instrumental in a number of successful operations.

“These units are very well trained and despite some noises from the more traditional voices for unarmed gardai the modern era makes these units a must.

“In areas outside of Dublin they will also be used to confront travelling gangs on the motorway systems – ASU units have been used to intercept these gangs.

“These units at national, regional and divisional level will remain under constant review from a resourcing perspective considering the expansion of the force under the Government.”

They will now turn armed support capability into a more 24-hour orientated service SOURCE

Number of sergeants joining the nationwide armed units