Garda Commissioner tells local meeting of changing nature of crime

Gardai are seeing Increases in domestic violence, online scams, serious sexual assault and the abuse of children online due to the changing nature of Irish society.

This was the stark picture painted by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris during his address to members of Westmeath Joint Policing Committee this week, which he was attending for the first time.

“A lot of the crime we see is in the home or at the end of the world wide web,” said Commissioner Harris, who referenced large increases in online fraud including “investment scams and romance scams” and also added that “regrettably there has been an increase in domestic violence, serious sexual assault and the abuse of children online.”

During his 20-minute address, Commissioner Harris said An Garda Siochana are dealing with “a changing and more diverse society” and the force has to adapt to take account of this.

The new Operating Model for policing will see the recruitment of up to 800 new members by the end of 2021 to bring the force up to its full complement of 15,000, and will also place a renewed emphasis on a return to community policing, he said.

He added that the benefits of this new model would include greater accountability, Inspectors who are on duty 24/7, and a greater visibility of frontline gardai. He also said the changes would mean larger Garda Divisions, enhanced national and regional support and improved performance.

Commissioner Harris said it was an “issue of concern” to him that there was “a variation” in the service being provided to members of the public by An Garda Siochana “according to geography” and he wanted to see an end to this and ensure that every citizen gets an equal service.

“Overall we are trying to ensure that every Garda Division will have access to specialist services as quickly as possible,” he added.

The Commissioner said while it was not “remotely on the agenda” of the new policing model to close any Garda stations, he added that An Garda Siochana have “national responsibilities as well” and is his role he has to ensure that the best use is made of available resources.

The Commissioner agreed with the sentiments expressed by a number of JPC members about the value of community policing, and he said its true value had been “shown during the pandemic.”