Garda vision for reserve 'unclear', says Policing Authority

The Garda Reserve Strategy 2021-2025 promises a revamp of the body.

The Policing Authority has said it “remains unclear” as to what vision Garda HQ has for the Garda Reserve, following the publication of a long-awaited Garda strategy for the part-time body.

The authority has revealed that there are only 200 “active” members in the reserve, which has a supposed strength of 447.

As reported in the Irish Examiner last week, the Garda Reserve Strategy 2021-2025 promises a revamp of the body, which has seen its official numbers dwindle from 950 in 2015 to just 590 in 2017.

Recruitment to the reserve ended on foot of a recommendation in the September 2018 report of the Policing Commission, which also called for a major review of it.

Its numbers continued to dwindle while that review slowly got traction, and currently has an official strength of just under 450.

More powerful reserve

The new strategy raises the prospect of a more powerful reserve, with an examination underway into the possibility of members operating on their own and possibly having more powers, along with greater training and support.

However, the minutes of an internal authority meeting, held in the third week of September, noted that its Policing Strategy and Performance Committee was of the view that the Garda strategy “remained unclear” in respect of its vision and purpose and the manner in which reservists would be deployed.

It said the committee’s chairwoman advised that there were around 200 "active" Garda Reserve members and that a consultation process was underway regarding these members by Garda HQ.

The committee “remained unclear” as to when further recruitment of the reserve would take place.

The ambition of successive governments, up to the Policing Commission’s report, was to bring the strength of the Garda Reserve to 2,000 by the end of 2021.

Shortage of staff

The authority minutes also highlight a major shortage of staff in the Garda Síochána Analysis Service (GSAS).

It said that the commissioner had informed the authority’s chief executive that the GSAS was “operating at 50% of its desired capacity”, thought to refer to the sanction provided for by the Department of Public Expenditure, as opposed to its “actual capacity”.

This shortage of staff has been cited by An Garda Síochána's chief information officer as an impediment to providing information to the authority.

Elsewhere, the authority cited an “urgent need” for changes to the law to enable gardaí to capture ethnic data in its systems, something which Garda HQ has stated it does not have the legal basis to do.

The authority said this power was crucial “in the context of Garda legitimacy in policing an increasingly diverse society”.

Meanwhile, the commissioner’s September report to the authority shows that 126 suspected criminals were arrested here on foot of EU extradition or arrest warrants in the first six months of Ireland joining an EU criminal database — the Schengen Information System.

These individuals were wanted for a range of serious crimes, including drug trafficking, robbery, sexual assault, and assault.