Garda boss considering Taser stun guns for frontline members

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said body cams, currently on trial in three divisions, will be rolled out nationally with procurement to be issued later in the year. Picture: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

Victims, visibility, and security are three top priorities for the new garda boss.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly says protecting garda members from violence is another priority, and he is considering arming frontline members with Taser stun guns.

In his first media briefing, the 23rd commissioner set out his “ key areas”, including:

• To improve how gardaí engage with victims, particularly victims of domestic violence, saying recent reports revealed that a “significant amount of victims are not happy” with the policing service;
• To ensure gardaí treat every member of the public in a “professional, courteous, and respectful” manner;
• To improve garda visibility, including in tackling anti-social behaviour and criminality, adding he wants to replicate the high-visibility model in Dublin city centre across the capital and to other cities;
• To place a “growing focus” on community policing and a focus on crime in rural Ireland;
• National security is a “significant priority” and an area “not spoken about enough”, with threats from hostile states, violent political extremism, and religious-inspired radicalisation. 

The new Garda Commissioner said he sees reports regularly showing that frontline gardaí are under “significant pressure” and that, on a “weekly basis”, members are being injured.

This is why he said he is considering providing frontline members with Taser stun guns — currently only available to specialist units — to protect them from violence.

However, he said it will be carefully considered and indicated it would be piloted first to test its operation.

'First contacts' issue

In the meantime, he said body cams, currently on trial in three divisions, will be rolled out nationally with procurement to be issued later in the year.

The commissioner said that the organisation had made “immense strides” in the last five to six years in improving the service to victims of domestic violence, including the creation of divisional specialist units.

However, he said some victims have expressed dissatisfaction with the service and said that two recent reports — one by the Garda Inspectorate and another by Women’s Aid — laid out in “stark terms” that a “significant amount of victims are not happy”.

Mr Kelly said that one issue is with “first contacts” between gardaí responding to a domestic call and the victims.

He said domestic violence affects all parts of society and occupations, including An Garda Síochána, and he said he is “devastated” when he hears a garda is involved in domestic or sexual violence.

On garda visibility, the commissioner said the high visibility plan in Dublin city centre was “working really well”. He said he wanted to see it replicated across Dublin City and in “other cities and urban areas”.

He said that, although Ireland is a “low crime” country, people should “feel safe” in cities.

Organised crime groups

Mr Kelly added that frontline gardaí should themselves feel safe doing their job, and he said he was examining providing Tasers to them. However, he said this would be subject to a pilot first.

The former head of the Garda Special Detective Unit said there was a “very detailed plan” to strengthen the security section of the force, adding that the implementation of this plan was “well advanced”.

Mr Kelly, also a former assistant commissioner organised and serious crime, said there are “many organised crime groups” in Ireland, and that they were “not just operating in Dublin”.

He expressed his shock at, what he said was, a “complete disconnect” among people who buy cocaine but do not think about the destruction and pollution that goes with the trade.

“We have people who are concerned about filling their green bin, concerned about driving a green eco-car, and then using cocaine and destroying vast tracts of the Amazon with pollution ... I can never understand that.”