All members of the Garda Public Order Unit are to be issued with tasers its been confirmed.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris faced questions on Wednesday from TDs and Senators at the Oireachtas Committee on Justice in the wake of last week’s rioting in Dublin.
Gardaí will begin wearing body cameras from the middle of next year, with all frontline gardaí issued with stronger defensive sprays and more personal safety equipment.
Commissioner Drew Harris says the Garda senior management team has decided on a number of measures to improve policing:
Turning to the Garda response, Harris’s statement to the committee says:
”On Saturday, I met the four Garda Associations to seek their immediate feedback, which was very valuable, and there will be further engagement with the Associations in the coming weeks.
We will also work with the Policing Authority on its review. We are already making changes. By Friday evening we had two water cannons ready to deploy.
We will be adding to the already 1,000 trained public order Gardaí. This is in addition to the 100 Gardaí we added to the public order unit in the Dublin Metropolitan Region during this year.
We will be providing Gardaí with even stronger incapacitant spray and more personal safety equipment.
In conjunction with the Minister for Justice, we have sought amendments to legislation to allow us to access audio from CCTV, which will enable us to advance incitement crimes, and to utilise facial and object identification technology for certain crimes including serious public order incidents, which will speed up the current manual review of CCTV material.
From mid-next year we will also start to deploy body cams. In order to provide public reassurance, since Thursday evening last we have four public order units deployed in Dublin city centre, along with high visibility patrolling supported by specialist units such as the dog unit, mounted unit, and air support. This policing operation will continue throughout the Christmas period.”
Before outlining the garda response, Commissioner Harris expressed solidarity with all those impacted by last week’s stabbing incident and the subsequent rioting:
“Firstly, our thoughts remain with the teacher and the three children and their families who were victims of the terrible knife attack.
“Our investigation is progressing and we are not looking for anyone else in relation to this crime. I want to thank the public for their assistance and support with this investigation.
“It is terrible that a minority then corrupted the suffering of others in an attempt to further their narrow-minded, and vicious agenda. They should be truly ashamed for this and the destruction they caused.
“An Garda Síochána is determined to bring them to justice.
We have arrested 38 people and our investigation is assisted by significant CCTV and reports from the public, this will enable us to prepare investigation files for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In addition, we have established another strand of investigation under the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation into those who we suspect are inciting serious public order incidents and hatred via social media.
There has, understandably, been much commentary on the Garda response to the serious public order incident.
I want to once again pay tribute to the Gardaí who so bravely and professionally put themselves in harms way to protect the people of Dublin.”
