Mr. Drew Harris:

Community policing will undoubtedly be the ethos of the organisation but also, as the Deputy has said, we have to deliver on this structurally as well. The particular characteristic of the service that we must deliver is that we have both urban and rural areas where there is deprivation, high crime and the problems attendant with those such as drug abuse, alcohol abuse and mental health issues - all of which require a multi-agency response. Community policing should play its part there and in effect, the gardaí who engage in that become specialists and should be regarded as such because skills are needed in order to work with other agencies and there are also community problem solving skills. It is not just a post that a garda will fill for a period of time. It is specialism but it depends on relationships as well.

The rural areas are somewhat different because there will be a more hybrid model. Gardaí in rural areas will not only have that problem solving, community responsibility, they will also have a response capability. We are still working on this but I envisage dedicated community policing teams built up against the need that we see in critical areas where those interventions can make a real impact. That can be clearly seen in urban areas and in areas of deprivation. Those areas have a high demand for our services but a high demand for other services as well. The commission of policing takes that on further in terms of widening the definition of policing and widening the scope for who may engage in policing. Much of that is down to ensuring that the State's energies are focused on the right places and towards the right people at the right time. There are areas and individuals with high demand and we need to collectively work together to see how we can best address that to improve the quality of their lives, along with the quality of the lives of the people who live around them and community policing is a big piece of that.