Wouldn’t it be nice if McDowell did a U-turn — just for a change?
He’s absolutely right.
They won’t be dictated to — on the issue of the reserve force, at least, and they nailed their colours to the mast by voting unanimously not to co-operate with it at their annual conference.
The minister was joined by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy in warning the Garda Representative Association (GRA) it had no place interfering in politics. At least GRA general secretary PJ Stone agreed with them on that one, and fairly promptly.
Within 24 hours of newly-elected GRA president John Egan launching a political campaign to unseat some PD and FF deputies in marginal constituencies, Mr Stone firmly scotched the idea.
Maybe it was something the minister said when he was in a state of apoplexy that prompted Mr Stone to intervene, and it had nothing to do with the ministerial threat to sack them en masse.
It would appear the minister was entertaining his own little doubts about the reserves, at least judging from what he said in reaction to the short-lived GRA idea of using a political campaign to wait in the long grass.
Understandably, he was probably incandescent with rage because three PD deputies were in the GRA’s sights, but he said that any chance of him changing his mind on the reserve force was now “gone”.
That comment would indicate that maybe he had reservations, and that there was a chance he would change his mind.
Well, the GRA has definitely changed its mind on the question of targeting members of the government parties, and retired members of the force can stay in retirement without having to worry about the election hustings next year.
So, maybe Mr McDowell might have another change of mind, and, unlike Maggie Thatcher, do a U-turn. It would be so refreshing — just for a change.
Obviously not part of the reserve is the Boston police commissioner Kathleen O’Toole who is expected soon to take up her position as head of the new Garda Inspectorate. It will be almost like home from home for her.
Boston, with a resident population of about 600,000 and as many again commuting each day, is experiencing something of a crime wave at the moment. Seven people murdered in seven days recently. Just as well she has that experience because the same sort of crime has jumped here as well. It’s gone up by 46%, or to 54 murders from 34 the previous year. Or, if you like, you can refer to homicide offences, which went up by 60% — 155 from 98, including those murders.
Call it manslaughter or murder, the result, unfortunately is the same, here or in Boston.
The Garda annual report for 2005, published this week, showed a 3% rise in serious crime, with gun possession offences and shootings on the increase.
And who says crime doesn’t pay? Certainly that’s not true because the gardaí managed to recover €3 million from the grand total of €78.6 million that was nicked last year. It leaves the SSIAs in the halfpenny place!
Ms O’Toole may well wonder in time whether it was worth taking a cut in salary from the dollar equivalent of €125,000 to €114,433 for the privilege of giving up one of the top police jobs in the US to come to Ireland, even if she has a daughter attending college here.
Ever before she takes on the job, she is labouring under an illusion. She thinks we have between 13,000 and 14,000 members in the gardaí — at least that’s what she conveyed to a press conference in Boston formally to announce her resignation as that city’s police chief.
There may well be that many by the time she retires from her new position, but I just hope longevity runs in her family.
Like her salary, she will have to revise her expectations of the strength of the force, which at the moment is around 12,000 full-time members.
Possibly, Ms O’Toole’s figure derived from a figment of the minister’s imagination where the extra 2,000 gardaí are strictly confined.
THEY have been there since the last general election because they most certainly have not been on the streets, as he promised.
Instead, he wants twice that number in a reserve force, which the gardaí certainly don’t want.
As head of the Garda Inspectorate, part of Ms O’Toole’s job will be to monitor garda resource management and report directly to the minister.
I don’t know what exactly that involves, but apparently she will be authorised to make unannounced station visits.
If she happens to call to Dunmanway in west Cork to check out the resources, then I’m afraid she will not have been prepared for the experience in her time as head of the Boston police. The town has the rather dubious distinction of being top of the list for the 10 worst garda stations in the country.
If she does visit, she might find nobody at home, but what she would find is an example of garda resource management as practised by her new employers.
There is no garda station in Dunmanway, and there hasn’t been since 2002 because it had to be vacated for health and safety reasons, and work has yet to start on a new one.
In the meantime, the gardaí are operating from a terraced house and — like the pub with no beer — there is no cell or interview room, so when people are arrested they have to be taken to Clonakilty, which means the gardaí can be missing for two hours. This is Mr McDowell’s idea of a priority, and it is seven months since he assured locals he would make it one.
In fact, Ms O’Toole could manage her time very well if she’s in the west Cork area because four of the 10 worst stations are in Cork and Kerry.
She’ll also probably find that time tends to stand still in the Department of Justice, if garda stations and a survey on crime that’s only six years late are anything to go by.
The National Crime Council (NCC) is an independent body established by that same department to offer policy advice to the government.
It recommended that the first national crime victimisation survey be commissioned by the department in 2002 and that the exercise be repeated every two years because such a survey would be crucial in establishing the true levels of crime in the country.
It will happen in ... 2008!
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
