Civil liberties group wants to end garda use of 'barbaric' spit guards

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has made a submission to Commissioner Drew Harris (pictured) calling on him to end use of the tool.

As a high-level garda review of ‘spit guards’ commences, frontline members have urged they be retained, while civil rights groups have called on the “barbaric” tool to be discarded.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has flagged that there would be a review in September of the ‘spit hoods’, which were introduced as a measure to protect gardaí from contracting Covid-19 from suspects threatening to cough or spit at them.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has made a submission to the commissioner calling on him to end use of the tool.

However, the Garda Representative Association has urged the commissioner to retain the hoods.

In its submission, the ICCL said that human rights law on torture and degrading treatment meant that using spit hoods “can never be acceptable”.

ICCL also objected to the use of the term “anti-spit guard” by An Garda Síochána, saying it implied that they were a form of personal protection equipment (PPE), when, in fact, they were full hoods placed by force over a person’s head.

ICCL’s Executive Director Liam Herrick said: “Hooding has long been considered by human rights bodies as a form of ill-treatment and, when other factors are present, a form of torture. 

"Spit hoods have been labelled barbaric and the EU has highlighted that they could cause suffocation. We remain seriously concerned that a spit hood was used on a child by An Garda Síochána.” 

Garda use of spit hoods is up for review on Tuesday. Our analysis is that placing a full hood over a person's head by force can never be acceptable, particularly when there is no evidence they stop the spread of disease.https://t.co/IqCNIY0ttl pic.twitter.com/eKqqQxP5P2

— Irish Council for Civil Liberties 🏳️‍🌈 (@ICCLtweet) August 30, 2020

He said that notwithstanding the understandable anxiety among frontline gardaí, there was no evidence to support the case that the hoods prevented the spread of Covid-19 and insisted that a leading manufacturer of the hoods had said they did not protect against Covid-19.

Mr Herrick said that the Policing Authority had said that the use of spit hoods should end on November 9 when the current emergency legislation to deal with the pandemic is due for review.

Garda HQ figures to the end of June showed that the anti-spit guards were used 82 times since April 8 and that there had been 121 incidents of spitting and/or coughing against members.

During the crisis, Commissioner Harris defended the use of the spit hoods in protecting members from the “reprehensible” attacks but said their use would be reviewed in September.

The GRA, representing frontline gardaí, urged the commissioner to keep ‘spit guards’ as a tool for members to protect themselves.

“Gardaí have no desire to use anti-spit guards unless absolutely necessary,” said GRA president Jim Mulligan.

“This can be seen by the figures which show there have been more incidents of weaponising Covid-19 by spitting and coughing at gardaí than use of anti-spit guards.” 

He said human rights implications were monitored and that “every time” a garda deploys an anti-spit guard, it was recorded to ensure its use is warranted.

“But our members have rights, too," he said. 

"An Garda Síochána has a duty of care to our members who are entitled, like any other worker, to be provided with equipment to protect their welfare, health, and safety.

“Suggesting that workers should not be provided with protection from a highly infectious, potentially fatal virus is also an affront to their families who could also be infected.” 

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors have previously called for the spit guards to be kept on, after nine out of 10 of its members surveyed wanted their retention as PPE.