Assaults on Gardaí up 50% since 2012

Gardaí all across the country are being punched, kicked, slapped, and bitten on an ever-increasing basis, official figures confirmed.

In the last six years, there have been 1,267 assaults on gardaí.

While there were 174 such attacks nationwide in 2012, last year the annual tally rose to 259 — an increase of almost 50%.

Cork-based Garda Michael Corcoran, from the Garda Representative Association, was not surprised by the increase in violence towards gardaí.

He said the problem can largely be attributed to not enough gardaí on the streets, leaving members unsupported and more vulnerable to attacks.

“If a serious situation arises and we can’t project numbers into an area, we’re putting our members on the ground under pressure,” he said. “If there were more gardaí out there, then the assault levels would go down.

“In addition to the low levels of policing, there’s also an awful lot more people out socialising now because there are more people in work and they have more money in their pockets.

“I think the alcohol-fuelled and drug-fuelled aspect of that is also leading to more assaults on gardaí.”

He said there are currently fewer than 13,000 gardaí policing a country of almost 5m people, suggesting a more appropriate figure for policing numbers should be between 18,000 and 19,000.

The understaffing issue, he believes, will only worsen with an ever-growing population.

“Despite the recruitment campaign, the numbers of gardaí are not really going up. They’re just about keeping pace with retirements,” said Gda Corcoran.

“I do think the recruitment drive will eventually have an impact, but it won’t be for a few more years. In the meantime, this remains a very serious issue.”

Predictably, the Garda divisions in Dublin recorded the most assaults on gardaí in recent years, followed by the three divisions in Cork.

During that period, here have been 398 assaults in Dublin, 124 in Cork, 90 in Waterford, 83 in Kerry, and 61 in Tipperary.

The divisions with the lowest levels of assaults on gardaí are Longford/Roscommon, Wicklow, and Clare. Each division recorded 19 assaults.

Bites, grazes, and bruising were the most common injuries, followed by sprains, strains, closed fractures — a break or crack in the bone which does not break the skin — and open wounds.

There were also a small number of internal head injuries, internal injuries elsewhere in the body, dislocations, infections, and open fractures.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed other occupational injuries sustained since 2012.

A total of 526 gardaí were injured in road traffic accidents since 2012, while 419 were injured in slips, trips or falls. A further 122 were injured as a result of manual handling.