IRELAND POLICE FORCE

Catherine A. Langcuyan BSCRI-4

IRELAND POLICE FORCE

Police-An Garda Sochna meaning "the Guardian of the
Peace", more commonly referred to as the Garda or "the
guards" or the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by
the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish
government.

An individual officer is called a garda (plural

garda), or, informally, a "guard". A police
station is called a Garda station. Garda is also
the name of lowest rank within the force (e.g.
"Garda John Murphy", analogous to the
British term "constable" or the American
"officer", "deputy", "trooper", etc.). "Guard" is
the most common form of address used by
members of the public speaking to a garda
on duty. A female officer was once officially
referred to as a bangharda "female guard";
plural bangharda).

Do the Police in Ireland carry guns?

In the United States, it seems obvious that police
officers carry guns and are allowed to use them. In other
places, however, this would be considered a provocation
and a violation of law. In Britain, Ireland, Norway,
Iceland and New Zealand, officers are unarmed when
they are on patrol. Most uniformed members of the
Garda Sochna do not routinely carry firearms.
Individual Garda have been issued with ASP extendable
batons and pepper spray as their standard issue
weapons while handcuffs are equipped as restraints.

Ratio of police to population

Every 100,000 people(261 police assigned)

Safe Spots
The safest spots in the nation, based on headline crimes
per 1,000 of populace, are
Roscommon/Galway East - 8.27
Donegal - 8.4
Clare - 8.4
Mayo - 8.77
Cork West - 8.93
Cavan-Monaghan - 8.95

The most dangerous spots

- as would be expected, are in Dublin's inner city.
Dublin - North Central - 124.00
Dublin - South Central - 97.49

 COMMON CRIMES

Vandalism
Robbery
Thefts
Gang related drug-turfs
Rape
Murder
Human trafficking
Drug smuggling

CRIME PREVENTION/CAMPAIGN TOWARDS CRIME

UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime
(known as the Palermo Convention)-it is the Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially
Women and Children.
Recent operations include:
Operation Shovel against an organised crime gang operating in
the south of Ireland,
Operation Samhna against tobacco smugglers,
Operation Abbey tackling the sexual exploitation of females,
and
Operation Seabight which was against the smuggling of
cocaine into Europe. (21 June 2010)

Changing the Mindset campaign which aims to educate

the general public about how their day-to-day activities can
facilitate organised crime, is an example of good practice. Its
purpose is to protect and promote human rights.

Police Response
Police response to crime is generally adequate and timely.
Emergency notification of the Garda or other emergency
services (police, fire, ambulance, coast guard) can be made by
calling 112 or 999.

POLICE ORGANIZATION
Rank

Irish name

Commissioner

Coimisinir

Deputy Commissioner

Leas-Choimisinir

Assistant Commissioner

Cntir-Choimisinir

Chief Superintendent

Promh-Cheannfort

Superintendent

Ceannfort

Inspector

Cigire

Sergeant

Sirsint

Garda

Garda

Reserve Garda

Garda Ionaid

Student Garda

Mac Linn Gharda

POLICE ORGANIZATION

POLICE ROLES
The force is headed by the Garda Commissioner, whose
immediate subordinates are two Deputy Commissioners in
charge of "Operations" and "Strategy and Change
Management", respectively and a Chief Administrative
Officer with responsibility for resource management
(personnel, finance, Information and Communications
Technology, and accommodation). There are twelve Assistant
Commissioners: one for each of the six geographical Regions,
and the remainder dealing with various national support
functions. At an equivalent or near-equivalent

level to the Assistant Commissioners are the positions of Chief

Medical Officer, Executive Director of Information and
Communications Technology, and Executive Director of
Finance.
The six geographical Assistant Commissioners command the
six Garda Force Regions, which are currently in
Dublin Metropolitan Region
Eastern
Northern
Southern
South-Eastern
Western

Directly subordinate to the Assistant Commissioners are

approximately 50 Chief Superintendents, about half of whom
supervise what are called Divisions. Each Division contains a
number of Districts, each commanded by a Superintendent
assisted by a team of Inspectors. Each District contains a
number of Subdistricts, which are usually commanded by
Sergeants.

Reserve Gardai- The intent of the Garda Reserve is "to be a

source of local strength and knowledge". Reserve members
are to carry out duties defined by the Garda Commissioner
and sanctioned by the Minister for Justice and Equality. With
reduced training of 128 hours, these duties and powers must
be executed under the supervision of regular members of the
Force; they are also limited with respect to those of regular
members.

The Irish Government

The Parliament is called the Oireachtas. There are two Houses
of Parliament: Dil ireann (House of Representatives) and
Seanad ireann (Senate). The Dil has 166 members known as
Teachta Dla (TD), who are elected using proportional
representation with a single transferrable vote (PR-STV).
Elections take place at least every five years.

The Seanad has 60 members, eleven of whom are nominated

by the Taoiseach. The rest are elected from vocational panels
and by national universities. The Seanad can initiate or revise
legislation, but the Dil can reject their amendments and
proposed legislation.

The President of Ireland (Uachtarn na hireann) serves as

head of state and is directly elected by the people. The current
President, elected in 2011, is Michael D Higgins. Presidents
are elected for seven years, and can serve no more than two
terms. The President has a largely ceremonial role.