David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Between 2006 and 2007, joint policing committees were established. At that time we had urban district councils. There were five in my constituency: Midleton, Youghal, Cobh, Fermoy and one other in the county, so I found myself on six joint policing committees at the time. I found them very useful and informative because they brought policing right down to the ground. The people in the community, the public representatives from county councils, Deputies and community leaders all came together with the Garda and the local authority officials to discuss the issues that were pertinent in that close local area. Those local authorities changed and we had municipal districts. Now in County Cork we have one joint policing committee for the whole county. Whatever about Deputy Cahill's example of Tipperary, Cork is a lot bigger. It was not ideal because the rural areas were not represented, just the towns.

The Future of Policing in Ireland report states:

We regard district policing as the backbone of police work and the police mission. In our new district policing model, all police service personnel at district level, sworn and non-sworn, should be considered to be community police.

I ask the Minister to look at establishing joint policing committees in the municipal districts. I know it is up to the Garda Commissioner, and he has a major role here, but it would be very beneficial if that happened and it would fit in very well with what is going on here. This is a technical Bill and it is understandable that we are changing the operating model of the Garda, that the divisions are becoming paramount and the districts per se as legal entities are being taken out, but I am concerned with what is to replace them at that local level. The ideal entity to replace them would be the municipal districts. If some form of municipal Garda district or organisation was linked in with the municipal district, that would make a lot of sense. You could also tie in education and health as well. That is something the Minister, the Department and the Commissioner might take on board.

The Future of Policing report also says "The current network of Joint Policing Committees (JPCs) received mixed reviews in our consultation process", but it also says the local policing forums are examples that have worked well, which reiterates what I have been saying. It mentions one in Dublin's north inner city. That is the kind of idea I am putting forward and the kind of model I am suggesting we might look at replicating throughout the country.

Moving to another area of concern around districts, the Garda and what the report on the Future of Policing is saying about organisation, I want to raise the role of the Garda Reserve. In 2013 there were 664 members of the Garda Reserve. In response to a parliamentary question I was told there are now 447, a reduction of almost a third. The Future of Policing recommends that recruitment to the Garda Reserve should be paused pending the outcome of a comprehensive strategic review. I understand that review is over and it is incumbent on us to start looking at that very valuable resource again. The Future of Policing report includes a very interesting note which refers to volunteer programmes. It mentions a Police Explorer initiative that is run through local policing services across the United States. It provides young people aged between 14 and 21 years who are interested in a career in law enforcement an opportunity to undertake training and practical hands-on experience in working with their local police service. That would be really worthwhile. It is worth exploring and thinking about. It would get young adults involved at that level as cadets or volunteers. We should also look at how we can use the Garda Reserve. Many people joined the reserve and then applied to join An Garda Síochána proper and were taken on because they knew what they were getting into and had a certain amount of experience.

Local knowledge is very important. Again and again, people have mentioned the importance of having gardaí on the beat, for them to be out and about on the streets, in the shops, meeting people, discussing with them what their issues are, and getting to know people and the locality. They cannot do that when they are stuck behind desks. I have been told by some gardaí that they find themselves stuck behind computers filling in reports and that if they do not do that, they are in trouble. Red tape and bureaucracy have taken over a lot of their time and that needs to be looked at.

There is the matter of different agencies working together and collaborating at local level. I am particularly interested in two responses. One is the joint agency response to crime, JARC. That is where all the agencies work together to focus on serial offenders. It has been highly successful in deterring people and actually turning people away from crime. In my time in the Department, we established a youth joint agency response to crime, Y-JARC, initiative, which is a pilot multi-agency approach to manage and address the prolific offending and criminal behaviour of young people aged between 16 and 21 years. Two pilot projects were launched in July 2017, one in Gurranabraher in Cork and one in Blanchardstown in Dublin. These have been very successful. A kind of outside-the-box thinking is required if we are to make inroads into what is happening in our society.

I agree with Deputy Cahill. When we change these models, we must ensure gardaí get closer to the people, not further away. That is why we need very local structures so that communication, both formal and informal, is there. We also need to ensure gardaí are on the beat and in touch with the people.

I refer to the youth justice strategy which was launched by the Minister quite recently. We should have a debate in the House on that. Many people do not know about it and do not even know it exists but it is very important in impacting young people who are in danger of getting involved in crime though antisocial behaviour, being pulled into the gangs and so on.

It works with the Garda youth diversion programme, youth agencies and youth clubs, and with the youth workers to target young people and reach out to them on the ground to support and help them, to divert them away from crime. That strategy is something we should all read and work on. We should have a debate on this in the House to see how it is working to make sure the resources are put into it. If we can deter young people from getting involved in crime in the first place, it will be a win-win. I have been in communities where a great deal of very good work is being done, but it is up against the tsunami of other issues these agencies are fighting against. They can be successful. I have come across young people who, because of their involvement with youth justice agencies and the good work that they are doing out there, decided not to get involved in antisocial behaviour and in crime. They decided to get involved in youth work themselves and act as leaders in their own peer group to deter other young people from getting involved in crime. This is the kind of thing we should do.

I am also concerned about the reports, such as the Greentown research project and others, that show us families and gangs use young people and children in crime. The key here is local, local, local. I am hopeful for all of the changes that we have here. I am encouraged by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland report which states that it regards district policing as:

... the backbone of police work and the police mission [...] all should see themselves as part of a single district policing team working to keep their communities safe. All should see their overarching collective function as solving problems affecting community safety in the district. District police should be competent, empowered, and resourced to handle most day to day policing demands themselves.

This is crucially important and is a turning point.

I am aware that some colleagues are concerned. On the one hand the Bill takes away some of red tape and bureaucracy and the layers of decision-making that are there at the moment, which is part of it, while, on the other, it brings the gardaí closer to the people, it frees them up and takes them away from duties could be done by civilians. We need to do more of that. A lot has been done to date but we need to do more. We need to identify areas where civilians can do the work that gardaí are doing now who should be out there doing real police work.

I welcome this initiative. I am aware that it has to be done for all kinds of legal reasons. It is technical legislation and must be covered like that. We face significant challenges at the moment in respect of antisocial behaviour. If one walks around this city any night, one can see that it is getting more and more prevalent for all kinds of reasons. One of the reasons is that we need more police visibility on the street engaging with people at all levels, being seen and not being in cars. The gardaí may be on bicycles to get around but certainly they can walk. The yellow jackets being seen on the street is a great support and a great help to people. It is a great encouragement for those people for whom the fear of crime can sometimes be more devastating than the crime itself, as Deputy Howlin said earlier.

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