Garda Representative Association conference:Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has decided to reject a recommendation by the Garda Inspectorate that pepper spray be issued to all members of An Garda Síochána.
Mr Conroy said he feared the issuing of the sprays to all members might lead to incidents that could damage the force's relationship with the public.
"We are almost unique in being an unarmed force," he told delegates at the annual conference of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) in Westport, Co Mayo.
"When you step up a gear, is it not automatic that the public steps up a gear?" he asked. Garda training was based on the resolution of issues through situation management and dialogue rather than force, he said. He wanted this ethos to continue.
However, the sprays would be made available to members of the Public Order Unit, the force's riot squad. He said that while some members might accuse him of being out of touch with the demands of frontline policing, there had not been an increase in attacks on gardaí in recent years.
Mr Conroy told delegates that on a recent visit to Chicago he had witnessed the success of quickly deployable mobile cameras in areas where sporadic drug dealing or public order issues had emerged. He believed these could work in Ireland and some cameras were already being piloted in Dublin.
He said another pilot project aimed at increasing high-visibility policing had been very successful in six divisions across the State. Garda time on the beat had increased by up to 23 per cent, while Garda absences from work due to illness had fallen by up to 50 per cent. He said this pilot project would now be rolled out across the State.
Mr Conroy said that while the force had been increased by almost 1,000 in the past 14 months, the level of Garda resourcing in Dublin and within a 112km (70-mile) radius of the city had failed to keep pace with the increase in population in these areas. This needed to be addressed and more civilian support workers were needed.
GRA president John Egan warned Mr Conroy that the roll- out of the new Garda Ombudsman Commission and disciplinary regulations had the potential to usher in a repressive working regime in which gardaí would "lose their edge" and detection rates would fall.
"Frontline gardaí must be supported and not undermined," he told delegates in a speech addressed to Mr Conroy.
"We hope the new disciplinary regulations are fair and balanced or they will cause a total collapse in morale and cause those on the front line to shy back. That would be a disaster. Watch our crime and detection rates then."
He told delegates that the level of firearms training was sub-standard. The Garda badly needed armed second-tier responder teams that could contain an armed situation pending the arrival of the Emergency Response Unit. "God forbid if a Virginia Tech or a Dunblane incident should occur here," he said.
Mr Egan was also critical of staffing levels at rural stations. Many stations that previously had a sergeant and four gardaí were now operating with just one garda.
He told Mr Conroy the Garda Reserve was a very costly undertaking that so far had "failed to inspire", and boasted only 36 members in the first intake into training.
He believed the poor take-up was partly because would-be reservists knew they could be sued in a civil action, which they would have to personally settle if lost, for their actions while working as reservists.