Gardaí to record crime on video cameras

GARDAÍ are to be given video cameras to record drink-related offences at pubs, nightclubs and takeaways, as part of a new clampdown on public order offences.

Special units in 25 Garda districts will be provided with hand-held cameras to document offences being targeted by the new Public Order Bill.

The 25 public order units will also use the video cameras to record demonstrations and protest marches.

Officers will use the cameras to secure convictions against owners of pubs and nightclubs who are selling alcohol to people who are drunk or underage.

Footage will be shown in district courts to display the levels of public disorder outside offending licensed premises and fast food outlets.

The evidence will be used to support applications by local gardaí for offending premises to be directed to take corrective action or else closed down.

"The Minister is discussing with gardaí regarding supplying them with video cameras when the new Public Order Bill comes in," a spokesman for the Department of Justice confirmed.

"They will only be given to public order units, who can use the footage as evidence and to strengthen their case.

"The cameras can be used to detect any breach of public order."

This means the units will also be able to use the cameras to film violence involving demonstrators, or confrontations between protestors and police.

The move will be welcomed by public order units who unlike many demonstrators do not have hand-held cameras to film what occurs at confrontations.

Last May, gardaí were heavily criticised for their actions at the Reclaim The Streets protest in Dublin.

Footage of the confrontations on Dame Street was filmed by a media company closely aligned to the organisers of the event. The film was subsequently shown on RTE and TV3, and stills of the footage were published in national newspapers.

The footage was also used by both gardaí and the Garda Complaints Board investigating the incident. As a result, six gardaí were charged with assault following an internal garda investigation.

Some gardaí maintained the film failed to show the violent actions of protestors.

They hope their new cameras will be able to capture any such incidents in the future.

Public order units, particularly in the Dublin metropolitan area, are anxious to have the cameras in time to monitor any violence or confrontations that may arise between January and June next year, when Ireland assumes the EU Presidency.

Officers fear a number of militant organisations in Europe, representing a minority of those protesting, will come here to make trouble at high-profile summits.