Policing Authority chair hopes sense of engagement between gardaí and public continues after pandemic

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris (right) with Policing Authority Chairperson Bob Collins last February. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The chairperson of the Policing Authority, Bob Collins has said that he hopes the change in tone and the sense of engagement between An Garda Síochana and the public will continue when normality returns or the intensity of the pandemic decreases.

Commenting on the Policing Authority's half year assessment of policing performance, Mr Collins pointed out that the force’s powers and regulations had changed dramatically. 

The assessment said that the use of powers by the force during the pandemic had been proportionate and only as a last resort.

Mr Collins told RTÉ radio’s Today with Sarah McInerney show that the Policing Authority had never been concerned that there was an unwillingness on the part of the gardaí to identify exactly what powers they were using.

However, he did express concern that there was a difficulty in recording the difference between being advised and directed by a guard to do something.

“The gardaí had very sensibly begun to engage its role with the community in advance of any regulations, in advance of any statutory framework, I think that the quality of the communication between guard and individual, between the organisation and the public has been of an extraordinary high order.

“More importantly than that there has been a real change in tone by individual gardaí - sometimes quite spontaneously, in their relationship to people and the response has been phenomenally good from people. 

“That response must be felt by gardaí and part of the challenge that now faces the Commissioner and within challenge very significant opportunity, is to find ways to ensure that when normality, whatever that is, returns or when the intensity of the current emergency decreases, that that same sense of engagement with people, that same sense of mutual respect, humanity, recognition, understanding will continue to be part of the way which the Garda Síochana deliver their services.” 

Mr Collins acknowledged that some young people felt that they did not have the “same warm experience” with the gardaí and it was a challenge for the gardaí to find new ways to engage with such groups.

For people who had difficult relations with the gardaí in the past, there was a barrier, they did not have the “warm, glowing Covid policing experience” that the vast majority had experienced, he said.

It was important to maintain the level of engagement achieved during the pandemic, said Mr Collins.