Don’t keep gardaí behind desks typing up reports, we need them on the front line
THE shocking murder of one man and the injury of two others in the attack on a boxing club in Bray, Co Wicklow, has once more highlighted the issue of front-line policing.
The attack comes hot on the heels of recent findings by the Garda Audit Committee that less than half of the Garda force is actively engaged in frontline policing.
This makes for chilling reading for the citizens of the State in general, but in particular for those like myself who live in rural Ireland in daily fear of becoming the victim of criminal activity.
Thanks to an irresponsible spate of Garda station closures and ruthless resource cutbacks, many in the country seldom if ever see or interact with a garda in the normal course of their lives. The report revealed that an average of just 44pc of gardaí were now in direct contact with the public.
The comment by the chairman of the committee, Cyril Sullivan, expressing “disappointment” in relation to the poor progress of the civilianisation in An Garda Síochána is in my view justified. A full half century of posturing and wind-bagging by various ministers for justice and Garda commissioners has led us to this entirely unsatisfactory situation.
An explanation of what is meant by “civilianisation” in a police service is probably in order. It is simply a system whereby unsworn personnel carry out duties that do not require police powers or training, thereby freeing up trained police to engage in frontline policing. This is practical and makes good business sense, particularly in the context of the lengthy and expensive training gardaí undergo. It frees them up to concentrate on exercising the significant powers of law enforcement and order maintenance vested in them. After all, is that not what they were intended for?
Administration and navigating mind-blowing bureaucracy should not take up the bulk of their time.
Incidentally, a civilian in legal terms is any person who is not a member of the Defence Forces, and it therefore follows that all employees who work in An Garda Síochána are civilians, so perhaps a more appropriate title is support staff. But let’s not confuse matters with semantics: there is more than enough confusion and befuddlement without adding to it.
It is now nearly 50 years since civilianisation was first recommended by the Conroy Commission. Since then, there have been at least 15 reports into different areas of Garda activity that have recommended changes in this direction. Implementation strategies abound but the saga rumbles on and sadly very little progress has been made.
It is instructive to look at the situation in similar European police forces and make comparisons.
In Sweden and the UK, the ratio of police to civilians is 3:1 and in the Netherlands, Denmark and others, the ratio is 4:1. In Australia, it is 4:1. In fact, in two British police forces – Northampton and Surrey – the number of civilian staff has overtaken the number of sworn police officers with no negative effects on the delivery of an effective policing service.
But in Ireland, despite 50 years of hot air from various ministers, the ratio is an astonishing 7:1. In contrast with modern police forces such as Sweden and the UK, who have one civilian for every three police, here in Ireland we have one civilian for every seven gardaí, so very little progress has been made. One statistic that illustrates this quite clearly shows that in 2008 there were 2,053 civilians in the Garda and according to the 2016 Annual Garda Report, the figure stood at 1,999. Some progress. During the same period, the number of civilians employed in the UK police force doubled. So clearly it’s a case of one step forward and two steps back.
According to the Policing Authority, the Garda authorities identified 801 positions that did not require police powers and were suitable for civilianisation. However, the authority had identified 1,500 positions suitable for redeployment based on research carried out by the Garda inspectorate. So what is the problem? It does not appear to be a highly complex undertaking but a paralysis has surrounded its implementation for decades.
In order for the Garda to operate as an organisation, substantial administrative back-up is required. In the operational field alone, investigation files have to be prepared, usually involving typing statements amounting to hundreds of pages. Reports in relation to crimes have to be prepared and in most cases updates submitted on a weekly basis. In my experience in the operational area, there was
In contrast with some police forces such as Sweden and the UK, we have one civilian for every seven gardaí
never sufficient skilled civilian support to carry out this work. I have many times witnessed top-drawer investigators sitting at desks typing with two fingers and photocopying when this work would be done in a quarter of the time by skilled typists and those trained in clerical duties. On a number of occasions, it was necessary for me to detail detectives to carry out typing in cases where urgent files were required by prosecutors. And I have never seen anything but a welcome by members of the force at the arrival of civilian staff who, in my experience, were hard-working, courteous, diligent and discreet.
I do not know of any case where trained gardaí prefer to be sitting behind a desk. In fact, they have a profound dislike for such work as their preference is to be out among the public solving problems, dealing with crime and other concerns for which they were trained.
And very few join the Garda to sit behind a desk – but after a number of years the “velvet mousetrap” syndrome sets in and some feel comfortable and have no desire to engage in the tough world of frontline policing.
In Garda stations all around the country, while gardaí are not employed full-time on indoor duty, a significant amount of their time is spent on administrative duties such as preparing court files, reports, and returns, all which could be carried out by a civilian clerical operative.
And while the authorities go on about identifying posts that can be replaced, may I suggest the immediate recruitment of 2,000 civilian support staff, to be deployed on the basis of a well thought-out plan designed to minimise the time frontline gardaí spend on indoor duties. This will result in the availability of a significant increase of gardaí for frontline policing.