Garda, US college to share in promoting better police work

THE Garda Siochana and a New York college of criminal justice have launched an exchange programme to further the cause of police…

THE Garda Siochana and a New York college of criminal justice have launched an exchange programme to further the cause of police professionalism" in honour of the late Det Garda Jerry McCabe.

The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, the Deputy Garda Commissioner, Mr P.J. Moran, the New York City Police Commissioner, Mr Howard Safir, and Mr McCabe's widow, Mrs Anne McCabe, attended a reception in New York last night to announce the programme.

The fellowship, which will be privately funded "will provide for the regular exchange of criminal justice expert student/practitioners from the Garda Siochana in Ireland and John Jay College who will share successful practices and technological advances in law enforcement".

Det Garda McCabe was shot dead during an attempted robbery of a post office cash delivery van in Adare, Co Limerick, on June 7th. He was the first garda killed in the line of duty since 1985.

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"The tragedy of Garda McCabe's death can serve as a continuing inspiration for improvements in policing, crime prevention and peacekeeping," the president of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Mr Gerald Lynch, said last night. The college is a unit of the City University of New York.

The scheme will allow selected gardai to travel to New York to study criminal justice and law enforcement, and will allow students at the New York college to travel to Ireland to gain experience. A number of private foundations have expressed interest in funding the programme, and a trust fund has been opened at Allied Irish Banks in Dublin.

During the summer, the John Jay College and the Garda jointly sponsored an international crime conference in Dublin attended by 300 criminal justice practitioners and academics from 27 countries.