Garda resistance to reform expected, says deputy commissioner

An Garda Síochána has entered the final phase of the reform process which was set in motion following a sucession of cotroversies in the force. However, delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic means this phase is unlikely to be completed until 2024, said Deputy Garda Commissioner Shawna Coxon in an interview.

She was appointed nine months ago to lead the process and help implement recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing. The Canadian officer has also been involved in driving cultural change within the Garda, including a renewed focus on discipline and anti-corruption.

She said some people thought she was “mad” to take a post as the second most senior garda in the country during a global pandemic. “But everyone has been very welcoming,” she said.

"When I moved here I thought life would be the same and policing would be different. In fact policing is very similar and life is more different than I thought,"she said. The deputy commissioner was previously deputy chief of the Toronto Police Service and, according to sources, is a leading candidate to replace Garda Commissioner Drew Harris when he steps down in 2025.

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The garda reform process has now moved into its final phase, consolidation, having previously gone through “building blocks” and “scaling” phases, she said.

“I liken it to pushing a rock up a hill. The first phase is getting everyone ready around the rock to push it up. The scaling phase is getting the rock up the hill and the consolidation phase is where you are finally able to push the rock off and carry on your journey.”

This final phase was due to be completed in 2023 but is now likely to go into 2024, she said.

The reform process has involved “many, many, many things”, she said, from high-profile transformations such as establishing the Divisional Protective Services Bureaus to deal with sexual violence and domestic assaults, to lower profile initiatives such as recruiting gardaí from minority communities.

“Everything has continued to move throughout Covid. However certain things like face-to-face training . . . has been slowed down.”

‘Hunger’ for change

In her short time in the job she has found an “appetite” and “hunger” for change among gardaí.

“Before I came I read a lot about resistance to change in the press so I had this idea in my head that there was going to be more resistance than there was,” she said.

“There is a hunger for things to become less bureaucratic and more efficient.”

There “certainly” has been some resistance to reforms, “but that is quite normal. I would worry if I didn’t have any,” she added.

She said there has been some pushback regarding Mr Harris’s focus on discipline and ethics. About 90 gardaí are suspended from duty pending investigations, including two who have been suspended for more than five years.

Much of this is down to the fact more gardaí are coming forward to highlight wrongdoing, said the deputy commissioner.

“We have more members coming forward saying there is an issue here, either a systemic issue or with individuals. So when you create those processes for people to come forward, and they do come forward, you’re going to have more cases for investigation and you’re going to have more cases that require consideration of suspension.”

She said the process of suspending a garda can take a very long time, particularly in cases where possible charges are being considered by the Director of Public Prosecutions. "We have to wait until all that's done before we can return them [to duty]."

Regarding the new Anti-Corruption Unit, which has been involved in several high-profile investigations into alleged garda wrongdoing recently, the deputy commissioner said 80 per cent of the unit’s work relates to “integrity building and preventative measures. That doesn’t get a lot of press.”