Lone gardaí at crime scenes 'not safe'

MEMBERS OF the public have come to the aid of gardaí who were unable to contain confrontational situations because they had been forced to travel to crime scenes alone in patrol cars, the conference was told.

Outgoing president of the Garda Representative Association John Egan said the practice of gardaí attending crime scenes alone was unsafe and should be stopped immediately.

The association is now calling on Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan and Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy to put protocols in place requiring all patrol cars responding to emergency calls to be staffed by at least two gardaí.

“Travelling alone affects our ability to police and arrest in safety and some of our members have been assaulted because they were alone at the time,” Mr Egan said.

He was speaking at the closing session of the association’s annual conference in Tullow, Co Carlow.

Mr Egan said the new protocol should apply to patrol cars working from 24-hour Garda stations. He said gardaí could continue to drive cars alone in cases where they were not responding to emergency calls.

However, even a call-out that did not at first pose any risk could result in a confrontational situation that could escalate at any time.

Under current regulations when a person is arrested and put into a Garda car one officer is required to drive the vehicle while a second is supposed to sit in the back with the prisoner to prevent any attack on the driver.

Mr Egan said the practice of allowing one-man cars respond to emergency calls meant these rules could not be adhered to.

Garda John Parker from the Cork North Garda division said one-man cars were providing a “fire brigade style” response system with little regard for the safety of the gardaí involved.

Gardaí often arrived on a scene alone to find a confrontational situation with a group of people to deal with.

“One person is useless against two or three people, particularly if your colleagues don’t know where you are and you can’t be contacted on the radio,” he said. “How can you expect one garda to subdue and arrest several offenders? It’s a nonsense.”