Just 2,000 gardaí on duty at any one time
Dismissing reports 4,000 gardaí were sitting behind desks across the country, leaving only 19 gardaí on duty in each county, the commissioner said he undertook a study of deployment on a typical day.
The study was to establish where everybody was based during a 24-hour period between 10pm on Monday, April 28, and 10pm on Tuesday, April 29 in each garda division. The figures showed there were 4,521 operational uniformed gardaí, 1,171 on operational detective duty and 449 on plain-clothes duty. Spread across three shifts, this put 2,047 gardaí on duty at any given time.
The commissioner said it was unfair to misrepresent figures on garda deployment as it gives the wrong impression. "We make maximum use of resources that we have," he said. Speaking at the Oireachtas Justice Committee, Commissioner Byrne said the 2002 crime figures, showing a 22% increase in crime, were concerning.
But crime fluctuated up and down for different reasons and it was important to look at the situation over five to 10 years, he said.
"I am not for one moment suggesting we do not have a serious problem. I think it is important that we get some balance into the situation," he said.
Addressing the massive increase in public order incidents and assaults, the commissioner said the lack of help to a person being attacked was a new development in society.
"We don't seem to come to the aid of the person in distress as quickly as they did in the past. The one thing a bully fears is being confronted. The Garda Síochána is there to enforce the law of the land. It cannot do that without the support of people in the community. We in the Garda have never lost sight of the benefits of community policing," he said.
The commissioner predicted far greater numbers of women would be involved in the higher ranks of the gardaí in the coming decade.
The gardaí cannot be compared to the Police Service of Northern Ireland or the London Metropolitan Police as it was a national and not a regional police force. "Our remit is much broader than their remit."
