Garda calls for reform - Changes to rebuild credibility

REFORM is very rarely successful or enduring if it is imposed from on high, but if it comes as a consequence of a grassroots groundswell then it can be profound and successful.

In that light, the challenge from the Garda Representative Association to the force’s high-ranking officers to communicate better with the public so it can be seen that the force is “not a secretive or suppressive organisation” is very welcome.

The GRA has also suggested that garda officers change the culture that precludes them from speaking on a range of issues without political sanction — including defending its members when they are wrongly accused of misbehaviour.

This is the kind of initiative that could, if done openly and honestly, rebuild the force’s image and undo the damage caused by former justice minister Michael McDowell’s gagging legislation, legislation that has deeply damaged the relationship between the public, the media, and this society’s understanding of the daily challenges faced by its police force.

It is not overstating the case to suggest that such a cultural change might make An Garda Síochána seem more a part of the communities they work in rather than an outside agency made remote by an often stonewalling and opaque communications practice.

Cutting to the bone, the GRA suggested that senior officers’ reluctance to communicate directly with the public is a direct consequence of the role played by politicians in defining individual officer’s careers.

This seems plausible and is another pressing argument for insulating the force from direct political supervision. After all, an ambitious officer would be foolish to be critical of those who would eventually rule on how he or she might progress through the ranks of the organisation.

The GRA’s unhappiness with how a defensive relationship with the pulic has undermined the force is just one element of a 50-page submission made to the Garda Inspectorate as a contribution to a review of the structure of An Garda Síochána under Haddington Road Agreement.

The submission also focussed on what called inadequate training, the absence of proper supervsion for junior gardaí, and the need for recruitment objectives that more accurately reflect the diversity ever more evident in Irish society.

These seem positive and redefining objectives for what is widely perceived as a conservative organisation often undermined by its own hubris.

Such a cultural change might more easily become the norm in an environment regulated by the Garda Authority and the Garda Inspectorate — though a plausible explanation of why two supervisory agencies rather one are needed is awaited.

Considerable progress has been made in defining the roles of the Garda Inspectorate and authority and it must be hoped that that work is completed during this Dáil because if it is not, the next government, assuming that the incumbents are replaced, will want to review structures a long time in the making and again delay the whole process.

This society, and most of all An Garda Síochána, cannot afford that.