Garda targets to cut crime and boost ratings

Gardaí have been set targets this year to cut crime, increase victim satisfaction, and improve public ratings, in the first such policing demands on the organisation.

It comes as a Garda operation yesterday prevented an “imminent attack and saved lives” after up to 20 firearms linked to the Kinahan crime cartel were seized.

In a separate operation, gardaí arrested a man in relation to the murder by the Kinahan cartel of Eddie Hutch in Dublin’s north inner city last February.

The Policing Plan 2017 has set targets for An Garda Síochána to cut burglaries by 5%, assaults by 6%, and robberies by 10%.

For the first time, each garda is to be subject to a formal performance evaluation in relation to their contribution to “community engagement and public safety”.

In a new bid to protect national security, gardaí will conduct outreach work to “build trust and confidence” in minority communities and “mitigate threats posed by extremism”.

The plan was developed by An Garda Síochána in consultation with, and the approval of, the Policing Authority.

Under the plan, gardaí are expected to:

• Increase victim satisfaction rates to 65% in 2017 (57% to 2015);
• Increase public opinion regarding the force’s ability to tackle crime to 60% in 2017 (57% in 2015);
• Increase satisfaction with the service provided to the local community to 72% (70% in 2015).

The Policing Authority told the gardaí last November that it was disappointed with its draft plan and urged the organisation to adopt “meaningful targets”.

However, there are a number of objectives in the plan with no specific targets.

These include improving detection levels for burglaries, assaults, robberies, and sexual assaults — which have fallen in recent years — as well as increasing reporting of sexual offences and identification of victims of human trafficking.

Similar unspecified calls are made regarding drugs and firearms offences, increasing garda visibility, reducing fear of crime, and improving response times.

The plan also sets an objective of encouraging the reporting of hate crime.

A performance appraisal process is to begin by the end of the year regarding “the contribution of each garda member to community engagement and public safety”.

The plan states the organisation is “acutely aware” of the threat posed by European citizens returning home from conflict zones. It says the force will work with minority groups to “mitigate threats posed by extremism” and to “build trust and confidence” with those groups.

It said the Garda Traffic Corps, to be renamed the Roads Policing Unit, will receive a 10% increase in resources this year.

The publication of the plan comes as a Garda surveillance operation resulted in the seizure of between 15 and 20 firearms linked to the Kinahan crime cartel.

The cache included at least one assault rifle and one sub-machine gun, as well as handguns and semi-automatic pistols.

The seizure was made at an industrial unit in west Dublin and three males were arrested.

Detective Superintendent Tony Howard of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau said he had no doubt they had “disrupted an imminent attack and saved lives”. He said “a number of the firearms were loaded” and ready to be used. He said the firearms had the capability of “killing multiple individuals”.

It is the latest blow to the Kinahan cartel, which was hit with the seizure of almost two tonnes of cannabis herb, worth up to €37m on the street, at Dublin Port last Friday. It was the biggest cannabis seizure in the State for 20 years.