Gardaí still waiting on anti-stab safety vests

LIFESAVING anti-stab ballistic vests which should have been rolled out to gardaí this month are being delayed because of the pressure the massive 11,000 order has placed on the manufacturers in Germany.

The Garda Representative Association, which has been requesting the vests for several years, said that was the information which had been provided to them and said everything should be done to get vests to the gardaí on the beat as soon as possible.

In addition, the officers have been given no timetable for the training they require before receiving retractable batons.

The Department of Justice has confirmed “10,000 retractable batons are in stock for issue aligned with training schedule”. However, the GRA claim the only gardaí receiving the training are recruits in garda college.

According to the GRA, gardaí are missing the basic protective equipment which other forces have had in place for 15 years or more.

The lack of protective measures available to gardaí was brought into sharp focus recently by the stabbing of a sergeant in Fermoy.

The vests are just one of the pieces of equipment which the GRA has been demanding for the past four years and particularly since 2004 when an independent report by University of Limerick health and safety expert Dr Thomas Garavan was published. It found almost 90% of gardaí felt afraid going to work and felt they were under-equipped for their frontline duties.

“The authorities have known about this for years. Gardaí are at risk on a daily basis,” said GRA president John Egan.

He said another measure which they have been campaigning for, synthetic incapacitating spray, which has been highly effective in the US for more than 30 years is still not being considered, despite the benefits it offers.

The Department of Justice said the commissioning of the equipment was the responsibility of the Garda Commissioner. The garda press office was unable to comment last night.