Gardaí call for permanent armed officers on streets

GARDAÍ across the country want armed officers on the street on a permanent basis to combat an “increase in armed violence”.

The dramatic call will be made at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), which opens tonight in Galway.

Garda delegates from the south, west, midlands and east – representing the divisions of Cork West, Galway, Westmeath, Meath and Kildare – have come together in a joint motion.

They will propose: “That conference directs the national executive to call on the Garda Commissioner to deploy the regional support units in armed mode on a full-time basis because of the increase in armed violence in society and health and safety considerations for all members.”

The Regional Support Units (RSU) are specially trained and armed squads but are deployed on normal policing duties, unarmed, like any other garda. It is only when they receive an order from their commander they change into RSU mode.

This involves a uniform change – typically tactical gear consisting of baseball caps and shirts to distinguish them from ordinary members. They can put on bullet-proof vests whenresponding to a very seriousincident.

They also have to put on distinctive signage on their cars to differentiate themselves from normal patrol cars. To access their weapons they open a special secure compartment containing a range of firearms and non-lethal weapons.

Garda associations have previously expressed concern at the time it takes to make the transition and the likely impact in responding to emergencies.

Delegates from the five divisions want the units to be on full-time RSU mode given the rise in armed violence in recent years and for the safety of gardaí facing the violence.

Gardaí in the regions are dealing not only with shootings and murders involving gangs, but also a rise in armed robberies of banks and post offices and armed tiger kidnappings of staff, and their families, from these institutions.

RSUs are highly trained by the state’s elite Emergency Response Unit (ERU), which is based in Dublin, and have the same weaponry as the ERU.

RSUs are planned for each of the five Garda regions outside Dublin.

The first unit was set up in the Southern Region in September 2008 and is split into two groups, one covering Limerick and the other Cork.

A second RSU covering the Eastern Region, which includes both eastern and midland counties, was set up in September 2009.

A third RSU is due to be activated in the Western Region soon.

RSUs were set up following recommendations in the Barr Tribunal, which investigated the shooting dead by gardaí of an armed man in Abbeylara, Co Longford. RSUs are tasked with responding to armed sieges such as Abbeylara, but also in response to any armed incident, including gangland-related ones.