Gardaí urge security review

GARDAÍ in the traffic corps said yesterday there should be a review of security following the shooting.

One traffic source said experts had recently examined the issue of protective gear for traffic gardaí, but that no decision had yet been made.

“There was talk of a protective garment, over the suit. But there’s an issue of comfort with that. There were people looking at it, but there was no decision.”

Gardaí on motorbikes wear a leather suit, which is armoured at the shoulders, knees and hips to protect against road injuries. The remaining suit is made up of relatively thick leather.

“If a bullet hits the armour it would take the sting out, the ordinary leather might slow it down a bit,” said the Garda source.

Another Garda traffic source said it wouldn’t be possible to wear a ballistic vest underneath the suit.

But he said security now needed to be looked at again: “Technology moves on all the time, so it must be possible to get a suit with ballistic properties.”

He said traffic corps gardaí were vulnerable when they get off a bike: “The bike is a very useful tool for police work and the suit is suitable for riding a bike, but once you are off it you are restricted in movement. It’s not for walking... It would be hard to run or dodge an attacker.”

He said it might be an idea to have traffic units work in pairs or threes, as is the case in countries such as Britain and France.

All gardaí spoken to said that while traffic gardaí generally did not deal directly with armed criminals, yesterday’s incident wasn’t the first. On August 9, a passenger in a car fired at a traffic corps car in Citywest, Dublin. There were no injuries but the situation was described as dangerous.

Justice Minister Brian Lenihan said he would have to wait until there was a full report into the incident to see if there should be any review of security.