Garda unconvinced by crime measures

SECTIONS of the Government's law and order response to the murders of journalist Veronica Guerin and Garda Jerry McCabe were met with scepticism by gardai and prison officers yesterday.

The increased recruitment of 400 gardai this year was welcomed by senior officers but they said the force has fallen about 200 below its proper figure and policing in Dublin has been further depleted by the transfer of around 300 gardai to stop the smuggling of BSE infected cattle. Between 500 and 600 gardai are now permanently devoted to Border duty.

The recruitment of an additional 200 civilians, to release gardai for "beat" duty, was promised more than two years ago but did not materialise.

The issue of Garda/Revenue/Social Welfare co operation has long been unsuccessfully pursued, as part of the anti drugs and general "community policing" initiative and has had varying degrees of effectiveness. One pilot test scheme was in the Neilstown Ronanstown areas of Dublin which experienced rising public disorder and petty crime levels culminating in last Hallowe'en's rioting when gardai were petrol bombed.

Many gardai are sceptical about co operating with social, services, saying it reduces the policing function to that of social, worker in a situation, where Dublin and other population centres are experiencing increases in serious crime.

No clear proposal has emerged about co ordinating Garda and customs operations despite a much vaunted "Joint Task Force" initiative last year. Almost immediately there were rows between the two agencies and relations are not thought to have improved.

The proposed Review of Efficiency and Cost effectiveness of the Garda Siochana has caused the greatest affront to Garda management. The force has been undergoing a major examination by international consultants Andersen Consulting, and is in the middle of implementing a five year corporate strategy initiative to improve efficiency.

Officers yesterday wondered whether the Government was aware of the existence of the three year Andersen review before making the announcement.

The decision to extend the 400 inmate prison at Wheatfield, on the western outskirts of Dublin, at a cost of £40 million, accounts for the bulk of the Government's additional expenditure. The new prison will not be ready for at least four years.

PRISON overcrowding is a permanent problem. A report by Dr T.K. Whitaker in 1985 said accommodation levels, which were the same as they are now, were "500 short of the actual need".

Whitaker recommended spending £97 million to provide additional accommodation by 1990. This never materialised. Wheatfield prison was then under construction but the building programme was cut back until it could only accommodate about 300.

Last year, the Government announced a further 300 prison spaces would be provided, but, this plan hinged on the continuation of the IRA ceasefire, allowing, Portlaoise Prison to be cleared of high security prisoners.

If the ceasefire had lasted, about 100 non republican, long sentence prisoners could have been accommodated at Portlaoise.

Prison and Garda sources say the overcrowding problems have reached levels where prisoners are being released within days of committal for quite serious offences. The prison system is also attempting to reduce its AIDS and HIV positive community by releasing these prisoners early, often after serving only a fraction of their sentences.

The Government announced the appointment of additional judges earlier this year and this has been extended by a further two High Court judges. Some steps have also been taken to reduce the courts lengthy holiday periods.

The main courts dealing with crime, the High Court, Circuit court and Central Criminal Court, sit for about half the year. Courts sit for five hours a day and during rare holiday sittings sit only in the morning.

The Government has proposed that the High Court and Central Criminal Court will sit for three additional weeks.

If the State decides to change the bail laws through a referendum there will almost immediately be a large increase in the need for prison places as hundreds more people are remanded. The Government admits the 400 additional spaces will not be available for years.

Senior gardai say there is no connection between the refusal of bail and tackling organised crime. The right to silence" proposals are already in place in Northern Ireland and no successful conviction has been based on this provision since its introduction there.

Experienced criminals detained for questioning for up to seven days by the RUC simply phone their solicitors who then fax a statement to the investigating officers saying their client would like toe help but cannot recollect his where abouts on the date of the offence. The suspect signs this and then remains silent, having met his obligations under the law.

It remains to be see what amendments the Government will make to Fianna Fail's criminal assets legislation, which proposes the seizure of assets on the basis of evidence by a senior garda or revenues commissioner in order to make the Bill come within the Constitution.

THE "additional staffing resources" referred to in the Government statement are also unclear but would have to vie for the £14 million left over after the cost of the £40 million new prison is deducted.

The notion of seven day detention without charge, already agreed by the Government, is likely to prove highly controversial in future court cases. This measure was available in the mid 1970s during the height of the security crisis but was abandoned after courts established that alleged statements taken under such prolonged periods of detention were unsafe.

At present the Garda can detain someone for up to 48 hours but only for questioning about offences where firearms are involved. In crimes including murder where no firearms are involved, the maximum period of detention for questioning is 12 hours.

Seven day detention remains in place in Britain and it was during periods of lengthy, rough interrogation that miscarriages, of justice such as those in the Guildford, Birmingham, Maguire and Judith Ward cases took place.