Look to Wales to solve our garda numbers problem

Discussion about garda numbers is never related to international comparisons.

Take Wales with 3m people, and only 7,370 police between their four regional forces.

We now have 4.5m people, which, by Welsh standards, should give us only 11,055 police, and not the 13,000 which is the current target level, much less the actual current level of 13,400. There is one very simple and key reason behind this — we still employ very few civilians to support the gardaí, and as a result, very many skilled, trained experienced sworn officers are paid to be desk-bound pen-pushers.

We may well need 13,000 or more on the garda payroll, but most certainly not 13,000 professional sworn officers — each of whom are paid vastly more than are civilian support staff — and only a handful of civilians.

Follow the Welsh example, and have 11,055 professional police officers, but staff the 2,000 additional posts by civilians, to provide the necessary support services.

We don’t waste our nurses or doctors doing clerical work — why waste professional police skill? Regarding small rural stations, with two or three officers, when an emergency occurs, be it a bad traffic crash or serious disorder or robbery, we need both numbers and rapid response — not one garda from a local station. There may well be a strong case for retaining a ‘village bobby’, with local knowledge, with one such officer based in all existing 703 locations, and working from home, but that does not need 703 stations.

Tom Carew

Ranelagh

Dublin 6