Gardaí, PSNI poised to unite against crime gangs

Police officers from the North and the Republic of Ireland may be brought together in joint investigative teams to tackle organised crime across the island, it emerged today.

Northern Ireland Security Minister Jane Kennedy said the British and Irish governments were considering the plan in a bid to crackdown on gangs who operate up and down the country.

Ms Kennedy said the authorities needed to foster greater flexibility and co-operation to combat the growing problems posed by criminals who do not respect borders.

“The Police Service of Northern Ireland and Garda Siochana have always worked well together and previously that co-operation would have grown out of the need to defeat terrorism,” she said.

“But now increasingly we’re seeing that energy and focus being turned upon organised criminals who operate on both sides of the border and exploit that land border.

“We are looking at the idea of joint investigative teams that would bring garda and PSNI officers together, while respecting the independence of both organisations, so that if they see a criminal operation that is operating freely on both sides of the border, it makes sense that a joint investigation into that would be more effective.”

Ms Kennedy said the plans would not dilute the independence of the police forces, but greater co-operation would benefit all.

“In the end it shouldn’t be a competition between the two agencies as to who can get these criminals,” she said.

“The objective of both agencies and both governments is to knock this organisation out as a criminal operation.”

Ms Kennedy said officials were currently working on ways to tackle the growing sophistication of the organised crime gangs.

“Both the British and Irish governments are working together with the PSNI and the Garda Siochana to develop a threat assessment for the whole of the island of Ireland of the threat of organised crime,” she said.

“That is one of the cornerstones of our strategy. You assess the nature of the threat and then you develop a strategy for tackling and dealing with that threat.

“We have got to break down the institutional barriers that exist because the people who we are fighting – the organised criminals – don’t respect those boundaries and we need to be as flexible and as adaptable as we can if we are going to be effective.”

Ms Kennedy said most organised crime rackets in the province were linked to terrorist groups.

“Our estimate is that about 70% of people engaged in organised crime in Northern Ireland are connected to paramilitary organisations,” she said.

“Seven in every 10 so there is a very, very close connection between organised crime and terrorism.

“Quite a lot of the money will go just into their own pockets, but there is no doubt that some of it will be used to fund terrorist activities.”

Ms Kennedy, who was in Dublin to attend a European conference on the subject, said organised crime cost the British exchequer almost £60bn (€85bn) each year.

“It is a lot of money and that figure underlines how important it is that we understand we are dealing with people who are in an illegitimate business,” she said.

“They are business people, men and women, engaged in making profit through crime, and for them it’s big business. There’s a lot of money in it and there is a lot at stake.”