An Garda Síochána needs new computer systems as a priority in order to properly match policing resources to needs in the community, the Garda Inspectorate has said.
Publishing its sixth report, entitled Resource Allocation, the inspectorate said that outside Dublin there is no computer-aided system to provide "purposeful" data on Garda workload and the use of Garda time.
Such technologies were “standard” in most police agencies in Europe and North America for decades and were “essential to effective police administration and operations”, the inspectorate said.
Chief inspector of the Garda Inspectorate Kathleen O’Toole said she and her colleagues were “really stunned” when they arrived here three years ago to discover that there wasn’t a national computer-aided dispatch system.
There is one in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, but it is “antiquated” and needs to be replaced.
The report says divisional chief superintendents currently do not know their average response time to calls for service – even for emergency calls.
“They do not know how many calls are being received, the nature of the calls, or the temporal or geographic spread of calls.”
Ms O’Toole said: “I understand that in this economic climate it’s not the time to recommend costly technology improvements but I think that, going forward, as technology money becomes available, it has to be a priority because it really will promote efficiency.”
In total, the report makes 27 recommendations, including changes to rosters, a more structured programme of civilianisation and other changes to administrative duties to get more gardaí onto the “front lines”.
Ms O’Toole said current rosters were negotiated in the early 1970s and that demands on resources were now different. In some cases, gardaí were working seven days in a row and finishing a shift at 11pm, and starting another at 6am the next morning.
Rosters needed to be adjusted in order to ensure compliance with the European Working Time Directive, she said.
The inspectorate also recommends the rationalisation of the number of Garda control rooms. Currently, there are 94, with plans to reduce this to 22. But Ms O’Toole said ultimately there should be just two central control rooms dealing with all Garda and emergency calls and that these could be managed and staffed by civilians.
The report makes 27 recommendations in total, including the maximisation of the numbers of gardaí available for operational duty through a structured programme of civilianisation, reduction in non-core police duties, and redeployment of gardaí from inefficient station duties to “more purposeful outdoor operational duties”.
It recommends the introduction of more efficient work practices, including better organised court attendance.
Also among the recommendations, the Garda Inspectorate says there should be a review of the operation of the Garda Reserve for the purpose of better defining its role, taking into account practical experience of its first three years in existence.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern welcomed the report.
“The Garda Commissioner is preparing to implement a range of improvements to resource allocation systems and I will work with him and all concerned to deliver an even better policing service for communities across the country,” he said.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan supported the inspectorate’s call for changes to Garda rosters.
“The system as it exists is inherently inefficient and does not maximise the human resources potential of the force. Put simply, the wrong people are on duty in the wrong place and at the wrong time and the rostering system prevents rather than facilitates gardaí in doing their job,” he said.
“The human resources challenges within the Gardaí are enormous but they must be overcome in order to maximise the potential of a police force who have to date been held back by outmoded work practices and a lack of political leadership.”
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors welcomed the report and said it looked forward to detailed discussions on its 27 recommendations in so far as they affect AGSI members.
“The association particularly welcomes the emphasis in the report on improvements in the service to the public and on officer safety.
“It is important to point out that just before Christmas the association had in fact almost reached an agreement with Government on further discussions on Garda rosters which are a central part of the latest inspectorate report,” said association deputy general secretary John Redmond.
“The Government pulled the plug on those discussions unilaterally, and then imposed severe pay cuts on our members. Any further discussions on these issues will obviously have to reflect that reality.”