McDowell’s reserve plans appear to be made up as they go along

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell seriously needs to revisit the drawing board as far as his reserve garda force is concerned, because it istotally impractical.

In fact, he might forget about it entirely, if his ego would allow him, and concentrate his energies on giving our proper police force the manpower and resources it badly needs.

Within hours of senior gardaí voicing criticism before the Oireachtas committee on justice, his plan to have 4,000 reserves was drastically cut to 1,500 — and even this is too many reserve bodies.

Despite the fact recruitment of these part-time policemen is due to start in August, and that it’s planned to have them inducted by the following month, this scheme has all the hallmarks of being made up as it goes along — and backwards seems to be the general direction at the moment.

Apart from the fact the majority of the force, as represented by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), was adamantly against the idea from the start, two other associations which represent senior officers, and which had backed the notion of a reserve force, have now expressed concerns about it.

Firstly, the chairman of the Association of Chief Superintendents, Michael Murphy, told the Oireachtas committee the proposals could only be achieved by the “full and active cooperation” of all involved, including the GRA and the AGSI.

Secondly, he said the minister’s proposal for 4,000 reservists would represent 30% of the full-time force, which would mean there would be more reservists than gardaí in some district stations.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the minister waved his magic baton — or is it night stick? — and 4,000 became 1,500. Plan A was ditched, as the minister, to use his own words, became “genuinely flexible”. (We knew he was very flexible, especially where the force is concerned. Before the last general election we were going to get 2,000 extra gardaí. When the election was over and the minister safely ensconced in the job again, he demonstrated his flexibility by making the 2,000 disappear).

Next up before the committee was the Association of Garda Superintendents, which expressed reservations that the 120 hours of training the reservists would get was not enough, especially as they were to be given the power of arrest.

Instead, said the association, there should be a phased introduction of powers for every reservist, based on their level of training and experience.

What’s more, AGSI general secretary Supt Tony Kenneally said the plan at the moment was not enough to give reservists an “adequate knowledge” of their responsibilities.

Given that it takes 62 weeks of intensive training, at least, for full-time gardaí before they are allowed to arrest anybody, I think he has a very good point.

Do I hear a Plan B being cobbled together in the Department of Justice, or possibly in Rooskey?

On Monday, Mr McDowell announced he was about to create something like 500 senior roles in the ranks of the gardaí, including a chief superintendent who, along with one of the new superintendents, would be responsible for overseeing the new reservists.

That was before he became “genuinely flexible” and decided two days later that 1,500 reservists was enough and announced that fact, in light of what senior gardaí told the Oireachtas Committee.

Unfortunately for the minister, Supt Kenneally had expressed concerns about “management overload”, and that the number of superintendents and other ranks would be insufficient to supervise the reserves — even if the additional ranks announced by Mr McDowell on Monday were included.

“The present management system is overloaded,” he pointed out to the Oireachtas members, at a time when he supposed, quite rightly, that they were facing the prospect of 4,000 reservists joining up.

I presumed that before he announced anything, the minister would have been au fait with what was needed. No, not the new appointments, but the idea of 4,000 reservists he imposed on us last year.

YOU could be forgiven for thinking Mr McDowell and his well-paid minions would have the strategy all worked out from day one. Instead, from the outset, he managed to get the backs up of the majority of rank-and-file gardaí, as well as their middle-ranking colleagues. Now, with the plan about to be put in place, the rest of the force — the most senior gardaí — are really telling him that the plan won’t work.

They may not have said so quite directly to the Oireachtas Justice Committee, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to read between the lines. You don’t need a degree in extraterrestrial matters either to know that slashing a problem which is already flawed is no solution at all. Especially not when an “overloaded” system has no confidence in it, and the rest of that system is against it.

Maybe, the outline of Plan C is something Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy came upon, which is along the lines mentioned by the Association of Garda Superintendents, something to do with the training of the reservists.

Mr Conroy said they would begin with certain functions, such as monitoring CCTVs, station duties and policing major events. It’s what he said next that could be bothersome. He said he had “no problem whatsoever” allowing probationary gardaí, as opposed to full-time gardaí, to supervise the reservists.

I presume the reason they’re called probationers is that they are still learning the intricacies of the job, and they’re learning them from their more experienced colleagues — and having spent a lot more than 120 hours in training.

In any case, the 200 hours a year that will be expected of them should be spent on station duties but then the €1,000 or €1,300 they’ll get would not seem to be worth the bother without the glamour of power of arrest.

Meanwhile, perhaps “system overload” might explain why some senior gardaí don’t like Mondays, or maybe they can identify with Bob Geldof’s song of quite a few years ago.

It seems Monday is quite popular with gunmen, and they prefer the start of the week, as opposed to Fridays or Saturdays, because, according to senior gardaí, they (the gunmen) are least expected to make their visits on that day.

I don’t know whether it is their victims or the senior gardaí who are surprised at the hours some of the gunmen keep, but if it is the latter, then they shouldn’t be. Half of the 13 fatal gun attacks under investigation this year happened on a Monday.

Maybe Mr McDowell should adopt Labour leader Pat Rabbitte’s proposal for changes in garda structures, which has remained predominantly unchanged since the 1920s. Mr Rabbitte said this week he was “advocating a paradigm shift in policing”, which means he advocates a master-plan to give the force a radical shake-up.

That’s probably what it needs.